What is HydrantMap UK?
HydrantMap UK is a project — the long-term goal is to get national, up-to-date hydrant records into a private, verified platform accessible only to emergency services personnel. Think dedicated apps for MDTs and fireground crews, not a public website. I'm not there yet.
Right now, this web app is here to show how bad the current situation is. The UK has an estimated 750,000 to 1,000,000 fire hydrants spread across 16 water companies and 48 fire and rescue services, all running different systems. The best publicly available data is from OpenStreetMap — volunteers doing their best. This map shows around 20,000 hydrants. That's roughly 2–3% of the real total. The rest simply don't appear.
That's not a dig at OpenStreetMap — it's the point. The data exists. It just isn't shared.
How other countries do it
The UK is behind. Most comparable countries already have centralised digital hydrant systems that crews can access in the field.
Many fire departments use GIS-linked hydrant databases with real-time status and flow records, integrated with dispatch. Cities like New York and Chicago have publicly searchable hydrant maps.
Fire and Rescue NSW and other state services run comprehensive digital hydrant registers, accessible via mobile apps on the fireground.
Hydrant locations and status are part of a national infrastructure dataset, shared between water utilities and emergency services on one platform.
Most major municipalities have digital hydrant asset management systems with inspection history and flow data accessible to fire departments in real time.
If you work in fire operations, water networks, spatial data or emergency services technology and want to get involved, I'd love to hear from you.
The opinions expressed on this page are my own and do not reflect the views of Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service or any other organisation.