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Fire Services and fire hydrants

What are they?Fire hose

It is a mandatory requirement for commercial buildings under the building act to have fire protection installed for the purpose of fighting fires.

Fire protection typically includes facilities such as:

  • Fire services
  • Fire hydrants
  • Hose reels
  • Automatic fire sprinkler systems

In some cases sites are required to have combined fire and domestic service facilities through a single shared pipeline.


Fire Service

A fire service is a privately owned and maintained water service for the sole purpose of fire suppression.

The fire service includes the isolating valve at the connection point to Yarra Valley Water’s water main, all pipe work between the water main and property boundary, and all pipework within the customer’s property beyond this point.

Figure 1 fire services 500 pixel replacement

All new fire services are metered with the exception of fire sprinkler services.
Metering is necessary to enable Yarra Valley Water to identify inappropriate use and potential backflow risk associated with fire services.
 

Who owns them?

The fire service is an asset belonging to the property it services.
 

Who is responsible for maintaining it?

Fire services are incorporated within all non-residential and some larger residential properties.
They form part of the building infrastructure and are therefore the responsibility of the property owner.
Responsibility for maintenance may be passed onto the tenant in a commercial lease agreement or an insurance policy.

Yarra Valley Water will maintain domestic water services up to and including 50 mm diameter (Figure 2), and/or the domestic service from the branch connection on a fire service to the outlet meter bend (Figure 3).

Fire Services 80mm and greater 500 Pixel

Domestic service off fire service 500 Pixel 

What happens if they are not maintained?

In some instances where there is doubt over the location of a leak on a fire service, Yarra Valley Water may undertake excavation and repairs.
If it is found to be located on the customers’ section of pipe, an account to recover repair costs will be issued by Yarra Valley Water.

Occasionally, a passerby or neighbour may report a leak to Yarra Valley Water on a fire service. If the leak is substantial, Yarra Valley Water will shut down the fire service and notify the site occupier of the need for a repair. Yarra Valley Water will the notify the fire brigade of the leak so that they are aware of the risk. 

If the owner is unable to arrange for a plumber, Yarra Valley Water is authorised to undertake the repairs at the owners expense.

Naturally, we prefer to negotiate these matters so if you have been served a notice to repair, please don't hesitate to ring us to discuss the management of the repair.

If the leak is not repaired in accordance with notices issued by Yarra Valley Water, then Yarra Valley Water will undertake the repair at the owners’ cost.


Fire hydrants

Fire protection is a mandatory requirement for commercial buildings under the “Building Act”. 

Developers / owners now have two options available to them to provide this fire protection, one is by means of a fire service (large service with direct connection to the street water main and unrestricted flow) the other by the nomination of a fire hydrant located close to the nominated property (usually within 120 meters of the furthermost point of the nominated property). 

If a street hydrant is chosen for fire protection and it does not meet this criteria the developer/owner must pay Yarra Valley Water for the set-up and installation cost to provide a new hydrant to support their fire protection needs.  They also require the consent of their Council to accept ongoing maintenance and repair costs of the newly installed hydrant.

The owner/developer has a legal requirement to verify the hydrant as a fire protection tool with the appropriate supply authority on a six monthly basis. It is the duty of the supply authority to record the details of the property that has been nominated for fire protection from these specific hydrants and verify if they are still available.

Council does not request installation of nominated hydrants, that is the duty of the developer/owner.