Because the initial requests didn't use all the grant money, a number of individual dry hydrant requests also are being funded, Stanford says. To date, the grant has funded nearly 500 dry hydrant requests bringing the total number of hydrants close to 1,000 in about 80 counties. The grant funds are helping Rusk County become the first to plan for countywide coverage, which means one dry hydrant every three square miles, Stanford says. Dry hydrants have been around for years, but they only recently caught on, he says. As the rural population grows, so does interest in improving rural fire protection, he says.
Rural residents see the value in that.
And so does the Texas Forest Service. It has relaxed its definition of a dry hydrant to accommodate residents across the state. For example, in the Panhandle where there isn't much surface water, a dry hydrant could be a device that enables firefighters to access water through irrigation wells. And in arid West Texas the idea was adapted to fit rock stock tanks, he says. Stanford said that rural residents interested in information about dry hydrants can find out more at the nearest local forest service office.