All the fire hydrants on Belmar Road have been outfitted with Storz quick connect couplings.
*By Mark Christ & Lt. Jeff Moore
Avon Lake Municipal Utilities will be installing Storz quick connect couplings on all the city’s fire hydrants as water lines are being upgraded or replaced.
Fire engines typically carry LDH (large diameter hose) with Storz couplings on both ends for connections between fire hydrants and pumps. However, hydrants usually have threaded couplings and require an adapter to use with Storz.
Firefighters especially like the Storz coupling because connection is quick. Generally, a hose can be locked using it with a 1/4 turn. By comparison, locking hoses using threaded couplings often takes several turns. Because of this, Storz couplings are widely viewed as a safer alternative to using threaded couplings for fire hydrant connections.
The Avon Lake Fire Department welcomes this improvement to our hydrant system. The Storz coupling was invented in Europe in the late 1800’s and has been a standard on hydrants throughout Europe for over 100 years. In the late 1970’s fire departments in the United States began using large diameter hose to attach to hydrants and this LDH uses Storz fittings.
This change allows firefighters to attach hose to the hydrant in a few seconds rather than up to a minute. In addition to the improvement in speed and safety, the larger 5 inch opening provides a larger volume of water.
The fire department is undertaking a survey of target areas where upgrades or retrofitting hydrants would be most advantageous. The City of Avon Lake has over 1600 hydrants and the fire department looks forward to working with Avon Lake Municipal Utilities on this long range replacement and upgrade plan.
*Christ Is the Information Specialist at Avon Lake Municipal Utilities.
*Moore is a Lieutenant at the Avon Lake Fire Department.
