Black fire hydrants scattered throughout the county might go largely unnoticed by the public, but firefighters know what they mean, and many make it a point to know exactly where they are.
Ink-colored fireplugs are a signal for firefighters not to hook up water hoses there because of low water volume and the possibility that infrastructure put in place by developers might collapse under the strain.
Some neighborhoods that have black hydrants contain large, upscale homes. Bentwater is among them.
Hood County Fire Marshal Jeff Young estimates that 65%-70% of the county does not have hydrants that provide strong enough water flows for firefighting.
The black fire hydrants came about because for years, there were no regulations in the more rural parts of the county for such things as water availability for firefighting.