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Who keeps Richmond's fire hydrants brightly painted?
There are around 5,000 fire hydrants in the City of Richmond, and while they are generally maintained by City Works Yard staff, they are hand-painted by special hires every summer.
Post-secondary students like Carter Ackerman, 20, and Paige Sever,19, are among a group of students hired this year by the city to paint around 1,000 fire hydrants between June and August.
The Richmond News followed along with Ackerman and Sever to get an idea of what it's like to be a city fire hydrant painter.
The job starts at 7 a.m. at the City Works Yard, where their supervisor gives them direction on what needs to be done for the day and where they need to go.
While hydrant painting is one of their jobs, they also assist in other City Works Yard roles when required.
"For hydrant painting specifically, sometimes we have to go out beforehand and weed whack and clear around the hydrant for accessibility," said Sever.
Once they get to a fire hydrant that needs repainting, the first thing to do is take a wire brush to scrape off old paint, rust and even grass or soil residue.
The purpose of this is to make sure the new paint that goes on the hydrants sticks better, explained Ackerman.
Once the fire hydrant is cleaned off as much as possible, new layers of custom red and white paint are applied.
The entire process takes around 20 to 30 minutes per fire hydrant depending on which of the four types of hydrants they are working on.
"Some have bodies that are a lot flatter. They don't have ridges, so they can be done a lot quicker," said Ackerman, adding they hit about 12 to 15 fire hydrants typically in a day.
Each fire hydrant is often repainted every five years.
They often work on their own in rural neighbourhoods, but are close enough to check on each other when needed.
"It depends on the day and on the area where we're going. If it's busy and we need to use our truck and set up cones and signs, we'll sometimes have a partner for safety reasons, like an extra set of eyes," explained Sever.
When asked why the job of painting fire hydrants is so important, both students said it is for "visibility, of course."
"In an emergency, the firemen can find it easier, so we want them super nice and vibrant, so it's easy for them to spot them while on the move," they said.
"It also just improves the look of the city ... and not just all brown and old maroon hydrants that are all chipped off."
Both Sever and Ackerman added the paint is more than just esthetics. It acts as a protectant to keep the hydrant from rusting or corroding, allowing it to have a longer lifespan.
Requirements of a hydrant painter
To be a fire hydrant painter, you don't have to be a professional painter or have prior painting experience, but you do need a full driver's licence and be able to be on your feet all day.
McRoberts graduate Sever and McNair graduate Ackerman both said having a Class 5 licence is the minimum requirement for the full-time job where they work from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, with every second Friday off.
"We're required to drive city vehicles, so it makes sense that it is needed. We also get driving training before we head out for the job," explained Ackerman.
"You can't do a whole lot if you can't drive yourself."
The onboarding process from introduction training, orientation and other necessary courses takes about two to three days, he explained.
This included city-provided internal training from flagging for construction jobs to occupational first aid.
During their first summer on the job, both Ackerman and Sever said they followed the senior hydrant painters for half a day to learn what they do, and they are "pretty much on (their) own after that."
Working their second summer with the city, Ackerman and Sever now have an additional job of training and giving instructions to the new painters who joined the program this year.
"It's a little difficult. It's a lot of responsibility looking after a few people, but I think it's a good experience for sure," said Ackerman.
Both Ackerman and Sever told the Richmond News they returned for a second year because the role had them working in a "good team environment" and they learned a lot.
Sever added she loved driving around the city after work with a friend or family member and pointing out which hydrants she had painted.
But there are some downsides to the job: it can be taxing on the body as it is a physical labour job, painters are out in the sun all day and they have to lift heavy things all the time, explained Ackerman.
Plans to work with the City of Richmond for a third summer are still up in the air for both Ackerman and Sever, as they are looking into internships related to their studies.
Ackerman, a third-year accounting student at UBC, said if he doesn't find anything, he would love to return.
Meanwhile, Sever, a third-year urban forestry student also at UBC, is still unsure what her next summer plans are.
"I know the city has an urban forestry department, and there's a lot of city planning and ... design kind of roles, but I'm not 100 per cent sure yet," said Sever.
Interesting fact on fire hydrants
After two summers of working with the city, Ackerman and Sever have learned more about fire hydrants than they ever thought they would in their life.
For Ackerman, he can never forget how much pressure a fire hydrant holds.
"If you were to take one of those caps off (a fire hydrant) and open it all the way, the force that comes out would be equivalent to a bison standing on your foot," said Ackerman, adding he saw this on a sign at their works yard open house.
"If that thing's open and you take that cap off, you've got to get out of the way. You can definitely get hurt."
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