khu
Civil/Environmental
- Aug 8, 2019
- 25
I'll start off by saying that I don't do much SF residential work and most of my experience is on the public side, but I'm helping someone with a new 3-lot partition. The existing parcel is on a developed street. There are streets on either end of the block with mains and hydrants and there is an existing water main running down the street that these new lots front. No hydrants on this street. The fire district said we are required to complete a fire flow analysis for the new lots and I'm a little confused since we're not proposing any new water mains or hydrants. Basically, if the builder is staying under 3600sf and we're in the 1000gpm @20psi minimum flow threshold, why are we required to do a flow test and analysis? I'm not exactly sure what we would even analyze since there are no new hydrants being proposed and the water source would be an existing hydrant at the end of the block. If they do a flow test and the existing system doesn't meet fire flow at the hydrant, I feel like there's a much bigger issue. That would mean no houses within range of that hydrant are protected, which seems like a City issue and not this builder. Any input on how to analyze this would be appreciated.
Here's a sketch of the area. It's about 360' lay length from the left hydrant to the center of the furthest new lot.
Here's a sketch of the area. It's about 360' lay length from the left hydrant to the center of the furthest new lot.