What is a Fire Hydrant?
Fire Hydrants are used to either provide the water supply for firefighting or to refill the tank in a fire appliance. Hydrants are located via a yellow marker plate with a black H and yellow background.
Responsibility?
The fire brigade are responsible for the maintenance and testing of all Public Hydrants, however there is an increasing number of Private Hydrants which do not fall under the fire brigades remit as they are on private land and are the responsibility of the building manager/owner to ensure they are maintained in accordance with BS 9990:2015
Where are they found?
Private Hydrants are usually found on large complexes such as shopping centres, Industrial estates, hospitals, and residential estates or where the public fire hydrant is not close enough to the building, therefore a second fire hydrant needs to be sited on private property.
It is a legal requirement under the Fire Safety Order that all privately owned fire hydrants are tested in accordance with Building Regulations and British Standards BS 9990:2015
Our service
hydrants should be subject to an inspection every six months and a full test and inspection annually to ensure the hydrant remains ready and in working condition for Fire Brigade use.
In accordance with BS 9990:2015 PLP Fire Protection will carry out a visual inspection of the H plate, hydrant cover, frost valve and pit, where required the pit itself may require clearing of silt and debris and the hydrant and pipework will be checked for leaks.
Annually, in addition to the visual inspection a wet test will be carried out where flow rates and static pressure tests will be checked. This ensures the fire brigade have a fully working hydrant ready to use in the event of an emergency
