Talk:Hose tower

proposed deletion/notability
This article was in Draft space until just recently, where it was targeted for deletion by someone focused on clearing draft space. It is a valid topic, although it is just a stub, so I moved it to mainspace to avoid that. It was then targeted by a proposed deletion, which I am removing.

It is indeed a stub, but it is a huge topic, far beyond a mere Wiktionary definition. It can be expanded greatly including to include a list of notable hose towers. I came across the topic in my developing List of fire stations and linked individual articles, which is worldwide but is developed so far mostly on Australia and U.S. More so in the U.S. than in Australia and U.K., hose towers were and are commonly used. A good proportion of the listed historic U.S. fire stations can be included into a list of hose towers. Many NRHP nomination documents speak more generally about hose towers and can be sources on the phenomenon.

There is an extensive Commons category on hose towers which I just came across, which covers hose towers in countries and places I was not aware of previously.

Plus there will exist industry/technical/scientific literature on the merits of hose towers. Recently, I have seen relatively current (2010 or so) debate online among firefighters/administrators about relative merits of drying fire hoses using a hose tower vs. using drying machines vs. using telescoping drying racks or anything else. In past, I have seen ads about alternatives. It is a somewhat technical topic, well-suited for Wikipedia, like coverage of other equipment or architectural features.

User:JMHamo, you can tag this article for further development, but I personally will oppose deletion by full AFD or any other approach. I would not welcome an AFD, because I don't want to be forced to develop this right now. I would be happy to discuss back and forth a bit further here, if you wish to better understand my views, or even to see some more specific references if you cannot find them easily by Google searching or by browsing links from the fire stations list-article or otherwise. --Doncram (talk) 02:49, 21 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Oh, i hadn't seen the recent edits by User:Cbl62 and others, including Cbl62's removal of the PROD with edit summary "rmv tag - article covers a type of historic architectural tower, such towers warrant articles, compare bell tower, clock tower, fire lookout tower, siege tower, observation tower, cooling tower, radio towers, water tower, transmission tower, tower house". I agree, yes, thanks! --Doncram (talk) 02:53, 21 April 2019 (UTC)

Confusing sentence
This sentence at the end of the first paragraph is long, and seems not to make sense to me:

Before radio/telephone communications, in the U.S. and Australia and elsewhere, fire lookout towers were also sited on mountain tops or other remote locations with wide views, later, when radio/telephone communications were possible.

Were lookout towers more common before radio communication, when they allowed one person to watch a large area and report on it? Or did they become more common with radio communication, with people being able to report on fires via radio from a remote lookout location? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter Smyth (talk • contribs) 23:08, 7 June 2021 (UTC)