Editing Fire hydrant (section)

==History==
Before piped mains supplies, water for firefighting had to be kept in buckets and cauldrons ready for use by '[[Bucket brigade|bucket-brigades]]' or brought with a horse-drawn fire-pump. From the 16th century, as wooden [[mains water]] systems were installed, [[firefighters]] would dig down to the pipes and drill a hole for water to fill a “wet well” for the buckets or pumps. This had to be filled and plugged afterwards, hence the common US term for a hydrant, 'fireplug'. A marker would be left to indicate where a 'plug' had already been drilled to enable firefighters to find ready-drilled holes. Later wooden systems had pre-drilled holes and plugs.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150912094219/http://www.sewerhistory.org/photosgraphics/pipes-wood/ The History of Sanitary Sewers]}} Retrieved August 2019</ref>

When [[cast iron]] pipes replaced the wood, permanent underground access points were included for the fire fighters. Some countries provide access covers to these points, while others attach fixed above-ground hydrants{{snd}}the first cast iron ones were patented in 1801 by [[Frederick Graff]], then chief-engineer of the Philadelphia Water Works. Invention since then has targeted problems such as tampering, freezing, connection, reliability etc.<ref>[http://www.firehydrant.org/info/ Firehydrant.org] Accessed Aug 2019</ref>

<gallery mode=packed>
File:Wooden fire plug, New Orleans, c 1900.png|Old style wooden "fire plug" still in use {{circa|1900}}
File:L-Hydrant.png|Cast iron hydrant, 1904
</gallery>