When you see a fire hydrant, you expect it to work and you expect it can save you in a fire. But a 10News WTSP and TEGNA national investigation found many fire hydrants across the country don't work!
10Investigates put Bay area hydrants to the test and found most public hydrants are inspected and maintained, however, we discovered many privately owned fire hydrants are not checked, putting you at risk.
The National Fire Protection Association says private fire hydrants should be maintained and inspected with a flow test annually to ensure they function properly. However, the responsibility is on the owner of the private fire hydrant to follow through with this requirement.
What can happen when the fire hydrant is not inspected or maintained as required can be disastrous.
A prime example was a massive fire in 2015 at Angelo’s Recycling in Largo.
Marlou Batista shot video of flames shooting high in the air.
“It was so huge that I don't know how they could put out the fire,” Batista said.
The effort was hampered because the nearest fire hydrant didn't work. It was a private hydrant.
It took five different fire departments to fight that fire and, luckily, no one was injured in the fire.
The firefighting crews had to sync up three different engines’ hoses to pump water from a public hydrant more than half a mile away.
District Fire Chief Keith Daliendo acknowledge it caused a problem.
“Initially, it did slow us down until we got a water supply,” Daliendo said.
10Investigates checked the records and found the City of Largo Fire Department looked into problems with the private hydrant and found the owner had shut off a valve.
And the City of Largo has no record of the last time that private hydrant had been inspected.
Recently-retired Largo Fire Inspector Tim Weedin was upset in 2015 because he was struggling to get inspection information on all private hydrants in Largo.
“They're supposed to be serviced once a year which is required, and they have to be flow tested every five years—same as public,” Weedin said.
While the Largo Fire Department still aims to check on all fire hydrants, both public and private, Weedin says it doesn’t have the staff to keep up with the more than 7,000 properties in the city.
“We're typically seeing properties every two to three years at best, staffing permitting, that's the best we can do at this point,” Weedin said.
We also found county fire departments are not required to keep track of or enforce the private hydrant inspections within their jurisdiction. That means if there's a fire, firefighters won't know whether that private hydrant will work.
“Any delay is a problem, because seconds count,” Hillsborough County Fire Marshall Tammy Zurla said.
A properly-functioning fire hydrant is can be a matter of life or death.
“Our men and women in the field are relying on those private hydrants,” Zurla said.
Hillsborough County even has an ordinance requiring private fire hydrant owners to file their inspection reports with the Fire Marshal.
“We still have the ones that send in the paperwork, we felt it wasn't enough,” Zurla said.
Zurla explained if a private fire hydrant isn’t working, that private property is not going to send in a piece of paper telling the Fire Marshal there is a problem. That’s why Hillsborough County Fire is now taking a proactive approach and physically checking private hydrants.
“Our intent with the ordinance was to educate the public and let them know it is your responsibility,” Zurla said.
Even with the ordinance, we found 46 pages of reports for private hydrants in Hillsborough County needing inspections and maintenance. Among the properties with private hydrants out of compliance with the ordinance, we found retail shopping centers, apartment complexes, and movie theaters.
“We give them a certain time to correct it and we go back and hope it is corrected, and if it is not, we cite them until it is,” Zurla said.
While Hillsborough Fire is taking action, county fire departments in Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota are not taking this extra step inspecting their private hydrants. Those counties tell 10Investigates that each individual owner or utility maintains and performs these private fire hydrant inspections.
Pinellas County tells us, “In the case of private hydrants, the hydrant’s owner is responsible for maintaining them.”
Pasco County Fire tells us, “If it is a hydrant on a private water system, the private system maintains those hydrants.”
Polk County says, “[The] owner is responsible for this activity [inspecting and maintenance]. Many hire a private inspection/fire protection company to perform these tasks.”
While Polk County also has an ordinance that requires those private hydrant inspections sent to the fire marshal’s office, Lakeland Fire tells us they are “not sure who does [inspects and maintains] private hydrants" and “you will need to check with the owner of private hydrants.”
Sarasota County tells us, “Sarasota County Government, including the Sarasota County Fire Department, does not and is not required to provide inspections (or maintain records of inspections) for private hydrants. It is the understanding of the county fire marshal that private property owners are responsible for the maintenance of fire hydrants on their property, according to guidelines offered by the National Fire Protection Agency.”
We also checked with St. Petersburg Fire which tells us, “Private hydrants are mandated by NFPA 1 - 13.5 and 13.5.4 (2012 Edition). They are not required to provide a copy of the inspection to the appropriate jurisdiction.”
But as the City of Largo has learned, without a working fire hydrant the results can be disastrous.
“That hydrant should have been working and it would have been much easier to fight that fire,” Weedin said.
The City of Largo Fire has recently added one additional inspector since the 2015 fire but tells us there is still a lot of work to be done to cover the thousands of properties. And for many Bay area county fire departments, there’s still a lot of ground to cover to ensure these vital sources for firefighting will work.
