Fire hose

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This article is about the type of hose. For the band, see Firehose (band).

Indoor firehose

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A fire hose is a 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 and 20 bar (0.8 to 2.0 MPa or 100 to 300 psi), while its bursting pressure can be up to 83 bar (8.3 MPa or 1200 psi). (This level of pressure emitted by the hose can actually break in a weaker brick wall.)^{[citation needed]}

After use, a fire hose is usually hung to dry as standing water that remains in a hose for an extended period of time can deteriorate the material and render it unreliable or unusable. As such, the typical fire station often has a high structure to accommodate the length of a hose for such preventative maintenance.

On occasion, fire hoses are used for crowd control (see also water cannon), including most notably by Bull Connor in Alabama against civil rights protestors in 1964. While still a common practice in many countries, it is no longer used in the U.S.

The first fire hose was invented by Jan van der Heyden in 1672.^[1]

In the United States, several diameters of fire hose exist. In direct attack, 3/4, 1, and 1 1/2 inch diameter hose lines are commonly used in wildland firefighting applications. 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2, and on occasion 3 inch lines are used for structural applications. Supply lines, used to supply fire apparatus with water, come in 3, 4, 4 1/2, 5 and 6 inch diameters.