Hydrant Painting Poses Risk to San Francisco Crews

April 12--They come in the middle of the night, sneaky and silent. They're up to no good, and their mischief puts public safety at risk and costs taxpayers thousands of dollars.

They paint fire hydrants. Artists to some, vandals to others, they've taken it upon themselves to spray-paint dozens of hydrants around the city. And while the average resident may see the silver, neon green and red hydrants as guerrilla art, officials say the actions are causing a dangerous problem.

San Francisco has two separate water systems: its domestic water system that we all drink from and its emergency supply, a high-pressure system used exclusively for firefighting, built after the 1906 earthquake and fire leveled much of the city.

There are also two types of hydrants. The approximately 1,600 in the emergency system pump bay water and are larger and sturdier, with color-coded tops. There are also 9,800 smaller low-pressure hydrants. Both types have identification numbers and tags stamped and painted on them to give firefighters information about water pressure, the water main the hydrant is connected to, and the distance to a shutoff valve.

When a fire breaks out or a car runs into a hydrant, first responders can lose precious time if that information isn't immediately available because someone painted over it, said Bill Gunn, a supervisor of the emergency water supply system unit at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

It also costs the city about $4,000 each to repair the hydrants -- or about $140,000 over recent months, he said, when 35 to 40 have been painted.

"It's a big life safety issue. ... It's hindering the operations of the Fire Department," he said. "If a firefighter rolls up and there is no information, they have to look at another hydrant or call it in. That's time wasted. and it's a lot of money."

Expensive operation

It's expensive because it's not as simple as just painting over the hydrant, Gunn said. To fix the smaller hydrants, SFPUC workers must shut off the water main, remove the hydrant and bring it back to their shop, where it is sanded down, restamped and repainted. A substitute hydrant is put in its place while the work is completed.

Sledgehammer work

The emergency-system hydrants are too big and control too much pressure to be removed, so the work must be done in place. Sometimes crews have to use a sledgehammer to get the color-coded caps off because the vandals' paint job causes them to stick.

A stuck cap also poses a safety problem, said fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge, if the SFPUC is unable to fix it before an emergency occurs.

"When that paint dries, it can make it difficult to get the caps off the outlet or open the hydrant gate, and that all delays us," she said. "We will get it off -- if we have to bust it we will, but it definitely delays our operation."

Gunn said many hydrants have been painted around Dolores Park and in the Castro, but they've also showed up in Bernal Heights, Chinatown, Pacific Heights and, last week, some in the Financial District.

'Big advocate'

Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district has been hardest hit, said he's a "big advocate" for public art and would like to see whoever is painting the hydrants channel the energy into city-approved projects. He recently proposed legislation that would require utilities such as AT&T to let murals be placed on utility boxes.

"I understand people are looking to do interesting artwork and make neighborhoods more beautiful, which is great except you need to work with the city if you are going to do that," he said.

The good news, said Talmadge: Most fire crews are "pretty familiar with the hydrants in their districts," so no public safety issues have come up.

"However, people who work in different areas aren't as familiar, and we don't memorize the water pressure or where the shutoff valves are," she said. "Everything about the hydrant and the numbers and arrows means something. It's all stuff we need to know when we get there."

'Public safety problem'

Wiener said it's possible that the hydrant painter or painters have no clue of the harm they are causing.

"I think the most important thing for the public to understand is that doing this may seem like a good idea," he said, "but it creates a significant public safety problem, and whoever is doing it needs to stop."

Marisa Lagos is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlagos@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mlagos

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