Here in Chicagoland I've noticed some F.D's hang their hose in traditional hose towers, while still others use hose dryers. My F.D. uses a hose dryer. I was just curious what other F.D's both in the U.S. and overseas are using.
When we get done with a fire we load it wet. but we also use synthetic jacket hose. If there is any old cotton jacket hose then it gets put in the hose tower but all of that stuff has been out of service for years now.
Firstly, when we get home from a job we replace all the used hoses with fresh ones from the storeroom. Trucks available quickly. We mainly use woven synthetic jacket hose which is hung in the tower to dry (only washed if it's really dirty - drought). Power winch so nice and easy. We have some fully extruded hose, which is simply rolled and put back in the truck racks. A few Stations have drying rooms for hose, most that don't have a tower use racks outside the building. Leaving hose spread out over the floor of the engine bay? No, wouldn't be allowed - bad trip hazard.
A hose tower can have multiple uses. Apart from dryiing the hose you can hire out the top for someones radio transmission or mobile phone antenna. Good money to be made from this.