Privately owned hydrants face scattered regulations in Colorado Springs, causing issues for firefighters
During a fire on Thursday, August 24 at a scrap metal yard in southeastern Colorado Springs, Springs Fire Department was faced with a faulty fire hydrant in the scrap yard's property, delaying their efforts to douse the 2nd alarm blaze.
An issue that fire crews have faced before.
Colorado Springs Utilities oversees about 20,000 fire hydrants within their service area. However there are 5,600 privately owned fire hydrants within that same region, that they are not responsible for.
Instead, the owners of the property where those hydrants are located, are responsible for maintenance and service.
13 Investigates wanted to know who is ensuring that private fire hydrants are working.
We reached out to the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD), who said that while they use private hydrants during fire emergency situations, they're not responsible for any their maintenance.
So then, we asked the City of Colorado Springs, and they directed us back to CSFD.
Then, we asked Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) about their oversight, where they explained they're responsible for a little over 20,000 hydrants.
"The inspection and maintenance of the hydrants in our system is performed by our leak detection program staff. Maintenance schedules differ depending on the criticality of the hydrant." explained CSU spokesperson Jennifer Jordan.
Jordan also explained that there are 5,600 hydrants that are privately owned, like the one that malfunctioned at American Iron and Metal scrapyard.
She adds that, "It is the responsibility of the private owner to maintain their hydrant(s)."
That means that around 28% of all fire hydrants within CSU's service area are privately owned, and at the mercy of being serviced and maintained, by their property owner.
CSFD told 13 Investigates that businesses are required to get their hydrants certified, and that they are required to submit the paperwork to the Fire Marshal every year.
You can read more about fire hydrant guidelines from the Fire Marshal, here.
The department also said it uses an automatic tracking system to notify those businesses each year to submit that report -- but they'll only receive a reminder, if they've enrolled in that notification system.
When asked about the number of businesses that are signed up to get those inspection reminders, a fire department spokesperson did not immediately have that information.
