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By Mark van der Feyst
One problem to be aware of with fire department connections is seized couplings. Exposure to weather, dirt and rust can prevent the FDC’s threads from being free enough to spin. When this happens, the male thread cannot be connected.
One way to alleviate this problem is to twist the hose in the opposite direction about five to six times. This allows the hose to untwist in the right, or clockwise, direction while at the same time allowing the male coupling to be threaded into the female coupling without spinning the female coupling. During pre-incident planning check to see if the couplings spin freely or not. If they do not, notify the property owners so that they can fix the problem.