Fire Hazard Grows as Sprawl Exceeds Number of Hydrants

Sprawling development is often named as one of the biggest threats that humankind imposes on the natural world. It eats up millions of acres of natural habitat, displacing wildlife. It further fragments what wilderness may exist at the margins, decreasing the value of habitat that does remain.

Sprawl also results in much higher use of natural resources, from oil needed to fuel longer distance travel to metals and minerals that must be mined to huge tracts of lumber. Then there's the water issue: the more we spread out and colonize drier areas, the more of the precious liquid we have to siphon from waterways and transport increasingly far distances.

Speaking of water, it's pretty difficult to put out fires without it, as one Maryland couple recently discovered, as reported by USA Today. The dream home they purchased in 2004 burned to the ground, largely because the nearest fire hydrant was more than a mile away. In fact, six out of 10 homeowners in the expanding region of Wicomico County, Md., do not have hydrants within the recommended 1,000 feet.

This problem is echoed across the nation, as more and more homes, many of them McMansions, are plopped down in former farmfields, forestlands and deserts. Hydrants cost about $1,200 apiece, according to the National Fire Protection Association, and that''s only one aspect of the infrastructure that must be provided.

Besides the obvious safety benefits, living near hydrants also saves homeowners money, since it results in lower insurance premiums.

This story illustrates just one of the downsides of largely unchecked suburban expansion. Many pioneering communities, architects, contractors and consumers are discovering that there are smarter ways to live gentler on the Earth, from in-fill developments in towns to revitalization of old properties to green building techniques. People have to live somewhere, but by planning smart and giving some care, we can minimize the harm, as well as our own risk.