How far away from a hydrant you must park
The penalties for parking too close to a hydrant
Wrapping up
How far away from a hydrant you must park
When you are parking in Puerto Rico, you must always park at least five meters away from a fire hydrant in either direction. This translates to about sixteen and a half feet. To make it easier to tell how far that is with the naked eye, think of this in terms of car length. The average car is about fifteen feet long. So as long as there is enough room for another car to park in between your car and the hydrant, you should be fine parking there.
The penalties for parking too close to a hydrant
If you are caught parking too close to a fire hydrant in Puerto Rico, you will be ticketed and the fine will be fifty dollars. This is a non-moving violation so your car insurance rates will not be affected. However, if you park near a fire hydrant when the fire department needs to use it, your car could be towed, or your windows could be broken so that a fire hose can be effectively run through your car if you are actually blocking access to the hydrant. In either of these cases, it will cost you at least two hundred dollars or more when all is said and done.
If you do block or even partially block a fire hydrant and a fire emergency occurs in the area, odds are you will likely also receive a stern talking to from police. You could also be the reason that the firefighters end up unable to properly fight a fire which could lead to additional property damage, injury or even death for which you could technically be sued for if your car is documented to have been blocking a fire hydrant at the time of that particular fire.
Wrapping up
Parking to close to a fire hydrant or flat out blocking a fire hydrant, even for a short period, is very irresponsible and selfish. Doing so could cost someone their life in the case of a nearby fire emergency. Even if that does not happen, you could end up with your car being towed, broken windows or at least a ticket and fine. In short, never park too close to a fire hydrant. In Puerto Rico, the rule of thumb is to make sure that your car has at least one car length in between it and a fire hydrant when parking.
