Ring of fire hydrants adds splash of colour
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Q: Why are blue plastic rings being installed on fire hydrants in St. Catharines?
A: The reflective rings come in four colours and are taking the place of coloured paint.
Dan Dillon, St. Catharines director of transportation and environmental services, explained the city has been painting the side nozzles of fire hydrants different colours for years. The colours indicate to firefighters how much water flow is available from the hydrant, which differs from place to place depending on the size of watermain to which the hydrant is connected.
Dillon said blue is the most common colour and indicates the highest flow available, at about 1,500 US gallons a minute. There’s also green, orange and red.
The city recently started replacing the coloured paint on the nozzles with the $5 reflective rings. That allows workers repainting hydrants to simply paint them solid yellow and pop on the rings to delineate the water flows.
Dillon said the fire department will also be able to see them better at night because they’re reflective.
“It was part of the rationale for why we decided to do that, and it makes it easier for us when we’re painting the hydrants because we don’t have to get different colours of paint for different things,” Dillon said.
As well, the rings, which are supposed to be long lasting, will be easier to switch out if the flow in an area changes.
Dillon said the city will add the rings to its 3,500 hydrants over several years as it does regular water flow testing.
Q: How long can provincial election signs be up? I’m still seeing some here and there in Niagara.
A: The speed at which a provincial election sign has to be taken down is up to each municipality and those bylaws can vary widely.
In Niagara Falls, for instance, signs have to be removed by the candidate or a representative within 48 hours immediately following 11:59 p.m. on election day.
If they’re up any longer, they can be removed by Niagara Falls staff and the sign owner has to pay $50 if they want it back. If the owner doesn’t pick it up in 10 business days, the city can destroy it.
Welland’s bylaw says signs have to be removed three days following election day while St. Catharines gives candidates seven days after the vote to get them out of sight.
Q: Can you tell us what the City of St. Catharines does with the tulip bulbs that they remove at the end of each spring?
A: The tulip bulbs that grace city planters and high profile parks are destined for less showy areas after they’re done for the season.
City horticultural foreman Mauro Becchetti said the bulbs are dried off, planted and scattered about in naturalized areas such as the back of Centennial Gardens, Jaycee Park and Happy Rolphs.
“If we get a second or third bloom out of them, that’s a big bonus,” he said.
Peter Boyce, Welland’s manager of parks, planning and maintenance, said tulips bulbs aren’t reliable once they’ve been used the first time, so municipalities generally don’t use them for displays in year two.
Welland has been giving away its bulbs to the public for at least 25 years.
Boyce said the first year they decided to hold a giveway instead of composting them, he thought there wouldn’t be any interest. He was surprised to find a line up and it’s been a popular program ever since.
While the second-year bulbs may not be good enough to plant in visible areas like on Prince Charles Drive, Boyce said they are perfect for the back of a garden.
Welland plants about 10,000 tulip bulbs a year and about 7,000 are in good enough shape to give away after being dug up.
Tulips don’t last very long but Boyce said residents want to see them in spring.
“After a cold dark winter it’s really nice to see them pop out,” he said. “When May comes, the people of Welland expect to see tulips on the street corner.”
St. Catharines cut back on its tulip plantings over the years but started increasing the plantings again this year and last.
“We scaled back because we felt that maybe we didn’t need as many but I think the citizens of St. Catharines really want tulips, me being one of them,” Becchetti said.
St. Catharines used to give the bulbs away many years ago but the practice was discontinued because it “got out of hand” with people picking through city trucks before they were unloaded. Becchetti said they may consider bringing the program back some day in a more controlled way.