People Are Just Finding Out What The 'H' On Lampposts Means

Having merrily walked past them for years, a whole host of people (me included) are just realising what the H found on some lampposts means.

Yep, it turns out that those bright yellow signs you’ll often find adorning lampposts - and other public spaces - in the UK actually serve quite an important purpose - which has now been explained thanks to the South Yorkshire Fire Service’s TikTok account.  

Posting a video to the social media platform, the fire service wrote: “POV: You’ve walked past these small yellow signs your whole life. 

“But it was today you realised, finally, after all these years, they are there to tell firefighters where the hydrants are.”

That’s right, those big Hs are there to show fire crews the location of a water supply, as sometimes the fire hydrant cover is obscured.

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Of course, some people were adamant that they’d always known, either saying they’d been taught at school, or that it was simply ‘pretty obvious’. 

However, there were many, many others who admitted that this was in fact brand new information, with one person writing: “I never knew. Everyday is a school day thank you.”

Someone else said: “Well I learnt something new today thank you! On the other hand, quite a few people admitted that they’d always thought it stood for something else - helicopter!

Unlikely as that seems, people did confirm this… “I thought it was a helicopter landing pad,” one said, while another agreed: “Thought it was H for helicopters.” A third wrote: “I used to think it was H for helicopter landing.” 

People were also keen to find out what the numbers you can see above and below the H indicate - to which someone answered: “Top is size and bottom is the distance from the sign.” 

Using the sign in the video as an example, someone else added: “It means fire hydrant 100mm connection and it’s within 10 metres of the sign.” 

According to Hydrants Direct, a company that maintains and tests privately owned fire hydrants, local authority fire and rescue services are usually responsible for the hydrant signs.

The website explains: "The location of a fire hydrant is indicated by an above ground post or marker plate. Hydrant marker plates are rectangular yellow signs, with a large black H and a pair of numbers, usually attached to a wall, lamp post or a short concrete post. The two numbers on the plate show the size of the water main and the approximate distance of the hydrant from the plate. Yellow paint is sometimes used to help identify a fire hydrant cover. 

"As well as marker plates, all hydrants are also shown on the digital maps available in fire engines, so that the nearest one can be found while firefighters are on their way to an incident. This also means that even if marker plates are missing or broken, the fire service will still be able to find them in most cases, and once reported they will be repaired in due course."