Fire hydrants in De Pere are undergoing upgrades designed to help firefighters responding to an emergency. It's been a multi-year project entering its final stage.
On De Pere's west side - a water department employee replaces a five-foot fire hydrant marker. One of over 1,300 being installed in the coming weeks to make sure fire hydrants can be found easily all year round.
“It's going to ensure that we can find the hydrants quicker and sooner so when we’re driving up to them,” said firefighter Rodney Deviley.
Over the past few years De Pere’s Public Works Department has been improving fire hydrants. Painting them yellow to signify they're on the municipal water system and adding colored caps; red, orange, green or blue.
“They are coding by the color which determines the water flow coming out of the hydrant. So that helps us identify how much water we can get out of a specific hydrant,” Deviley said.
Now work is focused on adding these new hydrant color-coded markers, which firefighters say will help them make quicker decisions while out in the field.