Fire Dept. access....

[BTDT]

I was reading Eddie's hijacked thread about fire dept. scooping up a scuba diver with helicopter to put out forest fire, and it got me to thinking. If someone's property is on fire (say a wooded area near Eddie, not his property), if there are no hydrants nearby, does the FD have the right to come onto his property and take water from his newly formed lake? Do they have to pay him for water used? Would it matter if it were just the woods on fire or a dwelling? Anyone know?

 

[charlz]

I was reading Eddie's hijacked thread about fire dept. scooping up a scuba diver with helicopter to put out forest fire, and it got me to thinking. If someone's property is on fire (say a wooded area near Eddie, not his property), if there are no hydrants nearby, does the FD have the right to come onto his property and take water from his newly formed lake? Do they have to pay him for water used? Would it matter if it were just the woods on fire or a dwelling? Anyone know?

Interesting question. For the most part I think you would look pretty bad standing there with your hand out while the neighbors woods/house burned down

I know they 'own' the immediate area but does that allow them to go on nearby property and use water etc.? I dunno.

My neighborhood has no hydrants and I am the only one with a pond. I have thought about putting in a dry hydrant just in case of a fire. The pond will fill back up so I am not too worried about 'losing' water. The only ones I might be a little sticky with are the ones right across the fence.... don't like them much and a good fire might let me add a few acres on the cheap Just kidding!

 

[SnowRidge]

The answer depends on a complicated mix of real estate titles, possible easements, state and municipal law, and historic water rights, especially in western states. For example, in Oregon, all water is public water.

I doubt an attorney could provide a definitive answer without substantial research. Any answer would have to be location specific.

Charlz's comment about looking bad is a very good point.

 

[Kendall69]

I was reading Eddie's hijacked thread about fire dept. scooping up a scuba diver with helicopter to put out forest fire

You know this is a myth right. They did an elaborate test on myth busters and proved no way, no how could this happen.

 

[scott_vt]

I was reading Eddie's hijacked thread about fire dept. scooping up a scuba diver with helicopter to put out forest fire, and it got me to thinking. If someone's property is on fire (say a wooded area near Eddie, not his property), if there are no hydrants nearby, does the FD have the right to come onto his property and take water from his newly formed lake? Do they have to pay him for water used? Would it matter if it were just the woods on fire or a dwelling? Anyone know?

Afternoon BTDT,
In the case of a structure fire, in most cases the FD has the right to take water from a private property pond or pool to save another dwelling ! If it was a pool, the FD would replace the water after the fire ! I have been a volunteer 25 years and I cant remember taking water from another persons pool but we have used ponds to save a building !

 

[RonMar]

If it can be accessed easilly, it is probably fair game for state/county/municipal fire use. If you want to store water for your own domestic firefighting needs, such as for an automated roof sprinkler/wall foam system, best keep it out of sight and not easilly accessed in an underground cistern(less evap losses that way also).

As for the scuba diver, on the dipping pump filled tanks such as used on the skycrane or the ram filled tanks on a seaplane tanker, the hole that they fill thru just isn't big enough. As seen on mythbusters, it just couldn't happen. the scoops on the floatplanes are only a small dipping angled pipe or a flap that only open an inch or two.

You could conceivably pick up a diver in a dipping helicopter bucket, but the nature of the release nozzel in most I have seen would not let him be dropped with the water. Besides, I have never seen a helicopter slingload without at least one pair of eyes spending a lot of time looking down at the load on the end of the cable. The pilot's door usually has a big bubble window for just this purpose. I think it would be pretty hard to miss the guy weaing the wetsuit in the bucket flipping you the bird

 

[InlineDieselFan]

I think it would certainly depend on the local, and state laws, I am guessing that in most cases they can just take it in a time of an emergency.

Now after the fire is out you could certainly ask to have your water replaced especially if it was a pool, and most FD's would do so.

steve

 

[BillyP]

I was reading Eddie's hijacked thread about fire dept. scooping up a scuba diver with helicopter to put out forest fire, and it got me to thinking. If someone's property is on fire (say a wooded area near Eddie, not his property), if there are no hydrants nearby, does the FD have the right to come onto his property and take water from his newly formed lake? Do they have to pay him for water used? Would it matter if it were just the woods on fire or a dwelling? Anyone know?

Don't know about Texas but in OK, the answers would be Yes, No and No.

 

[shaley]

I think I'll go and put a sign up on my sewage lagoon: This is not water DO NOT SRPAY ON HOUSE!!

 

[deere755]

I am not sure what the law is on taking water from a pond. I do know if it is close to the road and has easy access we always help ourselves to it. We also have agreements with some pond owners and have installed dry hydrants. Having access to water in rural areas can help lower home owner insurance rates.