A fire hydrant is an active fire protection

Active fire protection

Active fire protection is an integral part of fire protection. AFP is characterised by items and/or systems, which require a certain amount of motion and response in order to work, contrary to passive fire protection.-Fire suppression:...

 measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighter

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...

s to tap into the municipal water supply to assist in extinguishing a fire. Buildings near a hydrant may qualify for an insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 discount since firefighters should be able to more rapidly extinguish a fire on the insured property.

The concept of fire plugs dates to at least the 17th century.