Fitchburg, WI Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

Section 44-462 sets the paint specification directly: fire hydrants must be marked with the curb painted yellow, with the curb painted to produce a 20-foot stripe extending ten feet to each side of the hydrant, and in areas without curbs a four-inch wide yellow stripe placed on the pavement instead. That marking exists to protect the ten-foot clear zone required by section 44-461, which prohibits parking any motor vehicle within ten feet of a fire hydrant or otherwise interfering with a hydrant's accessibility by piling, dumping, or placing obstructive material within that ten-foot radius, unless the fire department has given written permission first.

Every day that a vehicle or obstruction continues to interfere with a marked hydrant zone counts as a separate offense under section 44-461. The hydrant location standards that make the painted curb meaningful are set out in section 44-458: hydrants must be freestanding, installed no more than 50 feet and no less than 25 feet from the building they protect, with a hydrant at the main entryway and additional hydrants placed so none is more than 400 feet from another. Section 44-457 requires an owner to install hydrants at their own expense wherever any part of a commercial, residential, or industrial building sits more than 300 feet of travel distance from a municipal hydrant along a street or road usable by fire apparatus.