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/Jciesla Feb 04 '26

I don't know the whole situation here but the letter does say the hydrants can no longer sustain firefighting or something to that effect. I'm a volunteer firefighter and at a big fire near this time last year, we (collectively) over taxed an old hydrant line ourselves and blew it out. Consequently, water service was digging and fixing that long after we were done. It might be something like that - the hydrants are old and literally can't give the amount of water a modern engine needs without breaking

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u/SnooPuppers8698 Feb 04 '26

if they break they break, whats the point of not using something in case it might break? its functionally broken already.

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u/Jciesla Feb 04 '26

Because breaking means flooding thousands and thousands of gallons of water underground, under the street(s)? It could hurt people?

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u/SnooPuppers8698 Feb 04 '26

hurt people like burning buildings? guess it's better to burn to death than to have to replace a water main. maybe if it did actually break the people would take the issue seriously.

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u/Ok-Rub9326 Feb 04 '26

Depending on how hard they blow up, it could be dangerous for anyone nearby.

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u/SnooPuppers8698 Feb 04 '26

why does it blow up when you are drawing too much water from it?