Leon County Board of County Commissioners Agenda Item#15   November 17, 2026

To:	Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board
From:	Vincent S. Long, County Administrator
Title:	Status Report on Fire Hydrants in the Unincorporated Area of Leon County

 

 

Review and Approval:	Vincent S. Long, County Administrator
Department/Division Review and Approval:	Ken Morris, Assistant County Administrator Nawfal Ezzagaghi, Assistant County Administrator Shington Lamy, Assistant County Administrator Brent Pell, Director, Public Works
Lead Staff/ Project Team:	Chad Abrams, Chief of Emergency Medical Services Charles Wu, Director, Engineering Services

 

 

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Statement of Issue:

As requested by the Board, this agenda item provides a status report on fire hydrants in the unincorporated area of Leon County, including the hydrant coverage achieved under the County’s Fire Hydrant Installation Program and Cost-Sharing Program, the areas that remain without hydrants, and the water system improvements the utility providers must complete before hydrants can be installed in those areas, and seeks the Board’s acceptance of the status report.

 

Fiscal Impact:

This item has no fiscal impact.

 

Staff Recommendation:

Option #1:       Accept the status report on Fire Hydrants in the Unincorporated Area of Leon County.

 

 

 

 

 

Report and Discussion

 

Background:

As requested by the Board, this agenda item provides a status report on fire hydrants in the unincorporated area of Leon County.  The status report summarizes the Board’s fire hydrant policy and programs, the hydrant coverage those programs have delivered over the past ten years, the areas that remain without hydrants, and how staff is addressing those areas with the City of Tallahassee (City) and Talquin Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Talquin), the two utilities that provide water service in the unincorporated area.

 

The report finds that the County’s programs have been highly effective.  Since 2016, 117 hydrants have been installed under the County’s fire hydrant installation programs, and hydrants continue to be added as the water system infrastructure expands.  The areas that remain without hydrants are rural areas on private wells and older subdivisions with water lines too small for fire flow.  In areas where water system improvements or extensions are planned, including older subdivisions with undersized lines, the County’s hydrant programs are coordinated with the long-range water system plans of the City and Talquin, consistent with the Board’s April 8, 2014 direction, so that hydrants can be installed as the necessary infrastructure improvements are completed.

 

In the rural periphery of the County, no central water system exists or is planned, and these areas will not receive fire hydrants in the foreseeable future.  Because fire hydrants depend on centralized water systems with sufficient infrastructure to support them, the absence of hydrant coverage in these rural areas is an expected condition; fire protection there is designed around the water supply that firefighters bring to the scene, consistent with how fire protection is provided in other rural communities.

 

Board Policy and Programs

On April 24, 2012, the Board allocated $30,000 annually to install fire hydrants where existing water systems could support them.  On April 8, 2014, the Board ratified the actions taken at its February 25, 2014 Workshop on Fire Safety Infrastructure Needs in Unincorporated Leon County, adopting Policy No. 14-2, “Criteria for the Placement of Fire Hydrants on Current Water Systems,” increasing annual funding to $100,000, and directing staff to coordinate hydrant installations with the water system improvements planned by the City and Talquin.  The Board revised the policy on February 9, 2016, to allow installations out of priority order where outside funding or a partner agency’s work creates the opportunity, and again on July 11, 2017, to establish the Cost-Sharing Program and increase annual funding to $150,000.

 

The policy and funding support two programs:

• Fire Hydrant Installation Program – the County installs hydrants, in a priority order based on engineering analysis, in areas where the existing water system can support them.
• Cost-Sharing Program – in neighborhoods that already have hydrant coverage, a resident or homeowners association may request an additional hydrant closer than the placement criteria provide.  The County pays half of the installation cost up to $3,500 and the applicant pays the balance.

The Analysis reports what these programs have achieved, the areas that remain without hydrants, and the water system improvements those areas require before hydrants can be installed.

 

Analysis:

What the Programs Have Achieved

The fire hydrant network in the unincorporated area has grown under the Board’s policy over the past ten years (2016–2026):

• A Major Milestone in 2022:  The County had installed hydrants at every location where the existing water system\infrastructure could support them.

• 10-Year Network Expansion:  Over the past decade (2016–2026), the total number of fire hydrants in the unincorporated area grew from 2,166 in 2016 to 2,711 in 2026, an increase of 545 hydrants, or 25 percent.
• Funding:  The County installed 117 of those hydrants through the Fire Hydrant Installation Program, investing more than $800,000.  The remaining 428 were added through new developments, which County standards require, and through City and Talquin water system upgrades that included hydrants.
• Increased Coverage:  The number of structures within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant rose from 36,990 to 40,485, bringing approximately 3,500 additional homes, businesses, and other buildings within reach of a hydrant.

Hydrants are now in place wherever the existing water system can support them.  The areas that remain without hydrants are those where they cannot be supported, either because the water lines are too small or lack sufficient pressure, or because there is no central water system at all.

Areas That Remain Without Hydrants

The areas still without hydrants are older subdivisions and rural areas developed before the County adopted fire-flow standards in the early 1990s.  Their water systems were never built with the larger lines, pressure, and storage that a hydrant requires, or they have no central water system at all.  These areas are not a shortfall in the County’s program.  A hydrant draws its water from the lines that serve the homes around it, so hydrant coverage follows central water service and ends where that service ends.  The remaining areas without hydrants are, as expected, in the more remote and rural parts of the County served by private wells.  Whether an area will eventually receive hydrants depends on whether central water service is planned to reach it, and the Comprehensive Plan answers that question through the Urban Service Area (USA), the boundary within which the City and County plan to provide central water and sewer.  The remaining areas fall into three groups, which differ in how close they are to hydrant service:

• Homes and businesses served by water lines that are too small, or lack sufficient pressure, to support fire flow account for approximately 2,900 of the structures more than 1,000 feet from a hydrant: 2,750 in Talquin’s service area and 132 in the City’s.  These are the next areas to receive hydrants.  Once the City or Talquin replaces the lines, and adds the storage\pumping capacity the system needs, the County will install the hydrants under its existing program.
• Areas inside the USA with no central water system – these areas are included in the City’s long-range water master plan.  They will receive hydrants as the City extends central water service, which the City schedules based on whether enough residents would connect to support the system’s operating and maintenance costs.
• Areas outside the USA with no central water system – the Comprehensive Plan reserves central water service for the USA.  Outside it, the City and Talquin serve established rural communities through their long-range plans, and the County’s hydrant program is coordinated with those plans so that hydrants are installed as each planned extension is completed.  The rural periphery of the County – the large-lot, agricultural, and conservation lands around the Apalachicola National Forest and the County’s lakes – is not included in either utility’s long-range plan and will not receive fire hydrants in the foreseeable future.  A central water system in these areas is not practical:  properties are spread far apart, so the pipe needed per home is many times that of a subdivision, and with so few connections, water would sit in the lines long enough to fall below drinking water standards.  Fire protection in these areas relies instead on alternative water supply methods, the standard approach in rural areas, as described below.

 

Addressing the Remaining Areas

The water system improvements that would bring hydrants to the remaining areas are built by the City and Talquin.  The County’s role therefore centers on coordinating with each utility:

• City service area.  Within the USA, the City’s long-range water master plan includes upgrades to increase water system capacity, including fire flow, and the County will install hydrants as those upgrades are completed.  Under the 2005 Water and Sewer Agreement, the City must update its water and sewer master plans every five years and submit them for County approval.  The City is now finalizing the current updates, which staff anticipates bringing to the Board for approval in January 2027.
• Talquin service area.  Talquin serves 2,750 of the approximately 2,900 structures whose lines cannot deliver fire flow.  Staff is working with Talquin to seek grant funding for the needed upgrades, such as an elevated water tank that would supply the pressure needed to support hydrants along Oak Ridge Road.

In all areas without hydrants, whether the water lines cannot support one or there is no central water system, firefighters rely on established alternative water supply methods as part of their emergency response plans.  These include water carried by fire trucks and replenished through tanker shuttles; dry hydrants at Lake Talquin, Lake Miccosukee, and Lake Iamonia that allow them to draw water directly from the lakes; and drafting from ponds and other available water bodies.  Since 2024, the County has continued to strengthen these capabilities by using a portion of its fire hydrant program funding to inspect and repair dry hydrants and, in early 2026, installing a water well and pump at Lake Talquin Volunteer Fire Department Station 31 on Smith Creek Road to support local fire response.  These methods represent the long-term approach in the rural periphery, where centralized water systems are neither available nor planned.

 

Conclusion

The Board’s fire hydrant policy and programs are working as intended.  They have placed hydrants in every area of the unincorporated County where the existing water system can support them, adding 545 hydrants over the past ten years and bringing approximately 3,500 additional structures within 1,000 feet of a hydrant.  The areas that remain without hydrants are the expected result of a largely rural unincorporated area and they fall into two categories with two different answers.  Areas served by central water, or included in the City’s or Talquin’s long-range plans, will receive hydrants as the utilities complete the upgrades and extensions in those plans; the County’s existing policy and annual funding are sufficient to install the hydrants as each one is completed, and no change to the program is needed.  The County’s rural periphery is not served by fire hydrants, and that is the expected condition rather than a coverage deficiency:  hydrants are an extension of a centralized water distribution system, and no such system is planned or practical in those areas.  Fire protection there is designed around alternative water supply which is the established approach for rural areas throughout Florida and across the country where development is too dispersed to support water mains.  The County maintains that supply and continues to improve it through its dry hydrant and station well program.

 

Options:

1. Accept the status report on Fire Hydrants in the Unincorporated Area of Leon County.
2. Do not accept the status report on Fire Hydrants in the Unincorporated Area of Leon County.
3. Board direction.

 

Recommendation:

Option #1