fire hose

A fire hose (or fire hose) is a high-pressure hose that carries water or other fire retardant (such as foam) to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it attaches either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can permanently attach to a building’s standpipe or plumbing system. The usual working pressure of a fire hose can vary between 8 and 20 bar (800 and 2,000 kPa; 116 and 290 psi) while per the NFPA 1961 Fire Hose Standard, its bursting pressure is in excess of 110 bar, (11,000kPa; 1600psi)

Until the mid-19th century, most fires were fought by water transported to the scene in buckets. Original hand pumpers discharged their water through a small pipe or monitor attached to the top of the pump tub. It was not until the late 1860s that hoses became widely available to convey water more easily from the hand pumps, and later steam pumpers, to the fire.

Following the invention of the vulcanization process as a means of curing raw soft rubber into a harder, more useful product, the fire service slowly made the transition from bulky and unreliable leather hose to the unlined linen hose, then to a multi-layer, rubber lined and coated hose with interior fabric reinforcement. This rubber hose was as bulky, heavy, and stiff as a leather hose, but was not prone to leaking. It also proved more durable than unlined linen hose. Its wrapped construction resembled some hoses used today by industry, for example, fuel delivery hoses used to service airliners.

Modern fire hoses use a variety of naturaland syntheticfabrics and elastomers in their construction. These materials allow the hoses to be stored wet without rotting and to resist the damaging effects of exposure to sunlight and chemicals. Modern hoses are also lighter weight than older designs, and this has helped reduce the physical strain on firefighters.^[8] Various devices are becoming more prevalent that remove the air from the interior of fire hose, commonly referred to as fire hose vacuums. This process makes hoses smaller and somewhat rigid, thus allowing more fire hose to be packed or loaded into the same compartment on a fire fighting apparatus.

In the past, cotton was the most common natural fiber used in fire hoses, but most modern hoses use a synthetic fiber like polyester or nylon filament. The synthetic fibers provide additional strength and better resistance to abrasion. The fiber yarns may be dyed various colors or may be left natural.

Coatings and liners include synthetic rubbers, which provide various degrees of resistance to chemicals, temperature, ozone, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, mold, mildew, and abrasion. Different coatings and liners are chosen for specific applications.

Hard suction hose consists of multiple layers of rubber and woven fabric encapsulating an internal helix of steel wire. Some very flexible hard suction hose uses a thin polyvinyl chloride cover with a polyvinyl chloride plastic helix.