Yes, the color of your nearby fire hydrant means something...

[CanesFan27]

The late Andy Rooney would say something like this, "Have you ever noticed the color of a nearby fire hydrant - have you ever wondered if it means anything?"

Well believe it or not, there are color coding standards for fire hydrants based on the type of system connected to, water flow rate and water pressure for each hydrant.  I was unaware of these standards until the fire hydrant in front of our house and throughout our neighborhood were painted from red to yellow earlier this year.

Check out the blog to learn more:

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2017/12/yes-color-of-your-nearby-fire-hydrant.html

[wxfree]

I once heard in one city that the color is related to the types of connections available.  In another city I heard that the black hydrants are those that have substandard water pressure.

[kphoger]

The color scheme is not universal.  So it's quite possible that one city did it one way, and the other did it another way.

[roadman]

In Boston and Cambridge, where all hydrants are connected to a public water supply, the hydrant colors correlate to available water pressure.  So, it's not uncommon to see two hydrants within 20 feet of each other, but with different colors.

[1995hoo]

The most unique one I've seen is one with a chrome-finished top on Columbia Pike in Arlington near the Air Force Memorial. They wanted something spiffy due to the location.

Link goes to the map due to how their app works:
Click

[CtrlAltDel]

The ones in my town, or at least some of them, are painted black and white to resemble the spots of a dalmatian.

[Duke87]

Fire hydrants in New York City these days are usually some combination of black and rust colored. The convention definitely is not followed here.

You used to see fire hydrants painted red, white, and blue dotted around the city as well - this was a thing people did for the bicentennial in 1976. Not official or anything, people would just grab some paint and do it themselves. These are all gone by now since 41 years of exposure to weather, road salt, and splashing from traffic is more than enough for a coat of your average hardware store paint to have chipped and faded away to nothing (not to mention that they hydrant itself will in many cases have been replaced in that timeframe). I remember one on the street where my grandmother used to live being visibly still red white and blue back in the early 90s though.

[qguy]

Definitely not universal. For example, in a town near where I once lived, the fire department let people in the neighborhoods get together and paint them any way they wanted.

There was one standard: couldn't be obscene.

[Brandon]

Here, in Joliet, I know the color coding is not followed.  The one outsider here, attached to the municipal water system, is painted red.

In addition, painting hydrants white is just foolish.  You'll never find them in the snow.

[freebrickproductions]

IIRC, Huntsville used to have the end caps of the hydrants painted specific colors to mark the water pressure (I remember seeing this a lot when growing up), but I think the city has decided to just go with yellow hydrants with green end caps as standard for all hydrants now, as I can't recall seeing any hydrants with blue, yellow, or red end caps anytime within the past few years.

Decatur, AL has always done red and white hydrants, as far as I can remember.

[jeffandnicole]

The actual defining code is NFPA 291...and what they state is different from this blog.

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma, they're all just entirely red. No color coding at all.

[sparker]

 

Definitely not universal. For example, in a town near where I once lived, the fire department let people in the neighborhoods get together and paint them any way they wanted.

There was one standard: couldn't be obscene.

Which would have effectively restricted pinkish tones! 

[kphoger]

Here, in Joliet, I know the color coding is not followed.  The one outsider here, attached to the municipal water system, is painted red.

It doesn't mean Joliet doesn't have a system.  Perhaps all hydrants connected to municipal water are red.  Perhaps red signifies a certain water pressure.

[SectorZ]

All mine in Tewksbury MA are red. All public water.

Fun story about this... About 15 years ago a former next door neighbor tried to impress his young son by painting the hydrant in front of their house white with black polka dots to look like a dalmatian. Needless to say, Tewksbury FD was not impressed, and made him paint it back. I don't even know how the town found out so quick, given I live on a dead-end street and he was a likeable if not altogether intelligent person.