Columbia Fire protection ordinance (§ 27-58)

(a) The department shall not furnish and install fire hydrants except to replace or relocate existing obsolete units or on new water mains installed by the department. Fire hydrants shall be furnished and installed as prescribed in division 3 in the same manner as other material used for water main extensions and

shall be sized, located and constructed in accordance with the regulations, specifications and requirements of the department and under the inspection and direction of the director.

(b) The department shall be responsible for supplying water in adequate pressures and flows for fire protection purposes, everywhere within the city that water mains have been installed by the department or accepted for ownership by the council. The minimum flows for fire protection in single-family residential areas shall be eight hundred (800) gallons per minute for four (4) hours with a minimum system residual pressure of twenty (20) pounds per square inch. The minimum flow for fire protection in all other areas shall be determined by the fire chief or his designee using tactical formulas developed by the National Fire Academy or any other organization with expertise in firefighting techniques. The minimum flow for fire protection based on a tactical formula may be reduced by the fire chief or his designee following a thorough risk evaluation but shall be at least eighty (80) percent of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) needed fire flow. If a risk evaluation for certain property results in a needed fire flow exceeding three thousand five hundred (3,500) gallons per minute, the property owner, as a condition to receiving a building permit, may be required to provide facilities to meet the fire flow requirement or participate in the cost of city water system improvements needed to meet the fire flow standards.

(c) Hydrants may be installed by property owners or other interested parties outside the city limits on water mains distributing city water by approval of the director and in compliance with department specifications and under department inspection. Upon satisfactory inspection of the hydrant or council acceptance of the water main extension complete with hydrants, the fire hydrants shall become and remain the property of the city, in consideration of the perpetual upkeep and maintenance.