Fire hydrants are all around town and most of the time go unnoticed except for when they need to be used by one of DeKalb’s firefighters to put out a blaze. They’re uniformly red in color in the city of Smithville, nothing seems to be amiss but that’s where the story starts. In February’s meeting of the Smithville Board of Mayor and Alderman, Fire Chief Charlie Parker told the board that a red-topped fire hydrant isn’t the best option.
Seeing red