Fire Hydrant Redesign

The Fire Hydrant Gets Its First Major Redesign In 100 Years

Today's hydrants break, leak, and freeze, sometimes costing people their lives. The tamper-proof and incredibly durable Sigelock Spartan, designed by a former New York firefighter, is intended to work when people need them.

Picture this: Your house is on fire. You call 911, the fire trucks arrive, and the firefighters, hoses hoisted over their shoulders, rush to the hydrant on your corner. The clock is ticking while the fire consumes your home, but there’s a problem: The hydrant doesn’t work.

“It would shock you how often fire hydrants don’t work when you need them," George Sigelakis, founder of a company called Sigelock Systems, tells me.

“How often?” I ask.

“All the time. It’s always in the back of our minds.” Sigelakis says “our minds” because he spent 15 years as a New York City firefighter before retiring in 2000. Now, he's the man behind the first major redesign of the fire hydrant in more than a century.

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http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029629/the-fire-hydrant-gets-its-first-major-redesign-in-100-years

Thanks to Science Writer Jessica Hullinger for alerting us to this story.

http://www.fastcompany.com/user/jessica-hullinger