Yorkshire fire hydrant thefts causing concern for fire service

The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have warned of the dangers over low fire hydrant levels as firms continue to steal water from this source.

By illegally siphoning off water for use in cleaning windows, sweeping the roads or drain jetting, these workers are putting people’s lives at risk.

Yorkshire Water has reported that millions of litres of water had been tapped into during July, which was higher than ever.

This crime of taking water supplies from these hydrants has been condemned by the fire service as this makes it much harder to respond to emergency situations.

Ian Bitcon, of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said:

“Our front-line appliances carry adequate water to deal with the early stages of fire, and to extinguish most fires, but we rely on hydrants to support our work.

“Anyone interfering with or vandalising a hydrant is putting lives directly at risk.”

Yorkshire Water admits that the situation has been made worse due to the dry weather experienced in the UK this summer in addition to harsh business trading conditions which has seen the crime become much more widespread.

Yorkshire Water’s Melanie Dawson said:

“We want [the thieves] to know their actions can have extremely serious consequences.

“Not only do they risk damaging fire hydrants, and consequently endangering human lives, but their actions can also lead to water discolouration or even temporary loss of supply, which at its worse can affect thousands of people.”