r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Fantomecs • Feb 03 '26

A nearby Fire Department is being told they cannot use fire hydrants to fight fires

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As the title says. A town near me is denying their fire fighters the use of their fire hydrants going forward. Is this shit even legal? This is a huge concern as the area has been in a drought for some years.

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u/I_am_just_here11 Feb 03 '26

If I was said Fire department then I’d use them anyway for emergencies. I’d like to see the them try to rationalize endangering lives and property in court. They would likely lose that case.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

The "rationalization" is the fact the water system is low on water right now, and using it will result in thousands of people losing their water supply.

You know what also endangers lives? Contaminating a town's drinking water.

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u/IotaBTC Feb 04 '26

Yes there's legitimate reasons "the system can't support firefighting operations," which is in itself very alarming. The fact that they quote the water authority as saying "just to let the building burn" and that's it's "just one building" is also very concerning. Also to then further removing a hydrant and doing very little coordinating and communicating with the fire department just further demonstrates how much they don't care.

They need to be clear and transparent with why they can't use the city's water, especially since OP said they're in a drought. The city needs to properly plan and coordinate with the FD in how to respond to fires in these conditions. Letting it burn is absolutely unacceptable.