FIREHOSE
Encyclopedia : F : FI : FIR : FIREHOSE
A firehose is a thick, high-pressure hose used to carry water or other fire retardant (such as foam) to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it is attached either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can be permanently attached to a building's standpipe or plumbing system.
The usual working pressure of a firehose can vary between 8 Bar (0.8 MPa) - 20 bar (2.0 MPa), while its bursting pressure can be up to 63 bar (6.3Mpa). (This level of pressure emitted by the hose can actually break in a weaker brick wall.)
This high pressure also allows the fire hose to serve as an effective form of crowd control, including most notably by Bull Connor in the Deep South against civil rights protestors.
As a figure of speech, education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the California Institute of Technology (otherwise known as Caltech) is often referred to by students and alumni as "drinking from a firehose" — a reference to the high pressure of both the hose and the education.
See also
- Dry standpipe
- Wet standpipe
- fIREHOSE (a musical band)
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