Page 61 - Red Alert

RED ALERT - THE FIRE SERVICE

We have already seen that fire engines carry quite large supplies of water. ACTIVITY
But what happens if there is a large fire and the fire engines run out of water? PRINT FROM DOWNLOADS
Simple! - fire hydrants are used.

Fire Hydrants are pipes which can be How quickly can you find the correct answers? Time yourself!
used to draw water from the main
underground water system. They are
hidden under metal covers in the road How far away from
or pavement and, in order to enable these signs are the 150 100 150 200
firefighters to find them, hydrant plates hydrants?
are fixed to posts or walls near the 12 metres, 50 metres 2 10 12 50
hydrant. Answers: 2 metres, 10 metres,

The Fire Hydrant 200
sign looks How big are the
water mains pipes
something like this: 100 150 100 300
5 on these signs?
The H stands for 6 5 15 10
hydrant, the top 300mm Answers: 100mm, 150mm, 100mm,
number gives the size of the water pipe
in millimetres and the bottom number Fill in the numbers on this Fill in the numbers on this
tells the firefighter how many metres sign for a hydrant which is sign for a hydrant which is
away from the sign the hydrant is. So 200mm wide and 8 metres 170mm wide and 50 metres
in the example above, the pipe is away from the sign. away from the sign.
200mm in size and is 5 metres away 8 200 50 170
from the sign.
Firefighters water mains pipes are fixed In the following case
to hydrants by tall metal pipes called tick which hydrant 100 150 100 200
stand pipes. A big ‘T’ shaped piece of you would use in
metal is used to turn the hydrant on an emergency. 10 2
and open up the water supply. The 2 100 6 5
water supply is then pumped through
the fire engine and out of the
firefighters hose onto the fire. Remember seconds can be vital so always choose the nearest one!

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