(a) 
Fire hydrants may be opened only by the Fire Department and the Department of Public Works. It shall be unlawful for any other person to open or tamper with the fire hydrants who does not have authority from the aforementioned departments to do so.
(b) 
To ensure protection of fire hydrants any person authorized to open fire hydrants shall use only an approved spanner wrench and shall shut off the fire hydrant slowly and gently so as not to damage the valve seat and shall replace the caps on the outlets of the fire hydrants when not in use. Failure to do so shall be sufficient cause to prohibit further use of the fire hydrant and the refusal to grant subsequent permits for the use of the fire hydrants, in addition to other penalties provided in this article.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-35(a); 2001 Code, sec. 106-216; Ordinance 66-2009, sec. 1, adopted 9/15/09)
(a) 
A fire line normally shall not be installed on the same meter with lines conveying water for other than fire purposes (referred to as “domestic lines”). The fire line should be a sole purpose line tapped off the main. However, if the customer desires to tap the fire line for other than fire purposes, a meter of appropriate size, as determined by the Department of Public Works, shall be installed by the city on public property or easement, at the owner’s expense, on the domestic line added to the fire line. The meter shall be placed in, as nearly as possible, the same location as if it were on a line tapped directly off the main and must at all times be accessible to city employees for reading and servicing. The city assumes no responsibility for the effect of a tapped fire line on the customer’s insurance coverage or rate.
(b) 
There shall be no unmetered lines tapped off a fire line. Each sprinkler fire line shall have a double check valve and five-eighths-inch detector meter installed to department standards, at the owner’s expense, on the customer side of any taps made on the fire line. The double check valve and five-eighths-inch detector meter and the meter installed on a domestic line tapped off the fire line shall, when possible, be installed in the same meter box. Each fire line without a sprinkler system shall have a five-eighths-inch meter installed to department standards, at the owner’s expense, on the customer side of any taps made on the fire line.
(c) 
The ownership, maintenance and testing of the entire system forward of the main line tap valve, except the detector meter and domestic meters which are property of the city, reside with the property owner.
(d) 
Fire lines installed as described in this section shall not be subject to charges which compensate for a customer’s demand on the water system (e.g., a readiness-to-serve charge) or to consumption charges for the water used through the fire line, if used for fire purposes.
(e) 
Fire lines installed before April 19, 1983, are subject to the following:
(1) 
A fire line with no other lines tapped off it shall have no demand charges applied, whether the fire line is metered or unmetered.
(2) 
When a fire line and a domestic line are connected to a compound meter, a demand charge for the fire line will be applied when the large chamber of the compound meter registers water consumed, if that water was not used for fire purposes. If no water was registered by the large chamber or if the water registered was for fire purposes, the demand charge shall be applied against the small chamber which meters the water flowing through the domestic line.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-41; 2001 Code, sec. 106-217; Ordinance 66-2009, sec. 1, adopted 9/15/09)