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Detroit officials are at their wits' end and have been begging criminals to stop stealing city-owned fire hydrants. While it is unclear how much the thieves get per hydrant or per pound, it is safe to conclude that the payout is small, the cost of replacement is high, and the public's safety is greatly jeopardized.

According to Fox 2:

"It’s not only a theft to the fire hydrant, but it’s a theft to our citizens, our residents, or firefighters and public safety in general," said Sims. "Totally unacceptable. Fire hydrants are an important part of our infrastructure and no matter how fast we get to a fire, if we don’t have an operable fire hydrant, it takes seconds and even minutes away from us - maybe saving lives."

"The problem is whoever is doing this is doing multiple hydrants in a row," said Sam Smalley, DWSD deputy director. "So when DFD shows up, they’re not going to have a hydrant within 600 or 900 feet which puts peoples' lives at risk."

So far, at least 75 hydrants have been destroyed in the city. This is not a rare phenomenon. Across the country, major cities have been hit by rampant fire hydrant theft, and the problem is only getting worse.

According to one case study done in Los Angeles, “It can cost upwards of $4,500 to replace a hydrant with a scrap metal value of $400. Not a very community-friendly equation.”

It is unclear what these thieves will be doing with the funds from the scrap metal, but according to leftist ideology, it is safe to assume they are just trying to get some bread to feed their families. And while we are never here to victim-blame, it is no surprise that hydrant-theft epidemics are largely a blue city phenomenon.

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