Dry Fire Hydrant Design 29 - Flooding Damage/Protection
By President Mark Davis
June 11, 2020
Many thanks to Frank Krick of the Harford County Department of Emergency Services for sharing some photos that he recently took of several of our bridge mounted dry fire hydrants in Harford County. Earlier in the month Harford County suffered a significant rainfall event that lead to flash flooding on a number of the streams and creeks where our bridge-mounted dry fire hydrants are located. It is very clear from all of the photos that the bridge mounts held up very well and suffered no damage! In comparison, photos of a nearby "fixed" dry fire hydrant show significant damage from the floodwaters and storm debris to the extent that the DFH is no longer operable. While folks usually chose our bridge-mount dry fire hydrant installations for reasons other than floodwater issues, it is evident that the bridge mount design can fair pretty well in flood prone areas.
Being installed on the down-stream side of the bridge helps protect the bridge-mount installation.
This "fixed" DFH installation near a stream and bridge in Harford County, MD did not survive a recent flash-flooding event.
Floodwaters exposed the intake pipe on this fixed installation.
Floodwaters were pretty high on this roadway and bridge.