Mark Schlinkmann

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

(TNS)

ST. LOUIS — A man sawed off brass valves from 43 fire hydrants in north St. Louis in recent weeks and sold them to a recycling company, according to court records.

Harry Glenn Farmer, 64, of Brighton in Macoupin County, Illinois, was charged on Thursday with four counts of stealing $750 or more and four counts of property damage in connection with the incidents.

"I've never ever seen anything like this," St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, who's been with the fire department 48 years, said at a news conference at police headquarters.

"This intentionally put the lives of citizens and firefighters at unbelievable risk," he said.

"Water's our lifeline," he added.

Police said the damage made the hydrants inoperable.

While 43 units are listed in court records, Jenkerson said the total number of damaged hydrants in the affected area is more than 70. Police Chief Robert Tracy said Farmer is a suspect in several other cases but didn't elaborate.

Authorities said the damaged hydrants were all in 8 to 10 square blocks in the Old North St. Louis, Hyde Park and Near North Riverfront neighborhoods.

A probable cause statement said the cost to replace each of the 43 valves is estimated at $5,000 to $8,000, for a total of at least $215,000.

The probable cause statement said Farmer was caught on surveillance cameras sawing off the valve of a hydrant on Sept. 23 at Blair Avenue and Branch Street and two more on Sept. 24 at Broadway and Bremen Avenue and at Palm and Ninth streets.

The statement also said he sawed off 40 other hydrant valves between Sept. 11 and Sept. 25.

The 43 valves were recovered from a recycling company where the defendant, caught on surveillance cameras, was selling them, court documents say. Police said the company was SA Recycling, which has several locations in the area.

Tracy said "we have had some cooperation" and that people came forward after they "saw something that was not right." He didn't elaborate.

Tracy said Farmer was arrested just before 1 p.m. in Granite City. Authorities said he was being held in Madison County pending extradition to St. Louis.

Jenkerson said after the damaged hydrants were first reported last week, the fire department took several steps to work around the inability to use them. He said an additional 2,000 feet of hoses were made available to the affected area along with some extra tankers.

"It's not ideal; we have a workaround," he said.

Jenkerson said about three-fourths of the damaged fire hydrants date back to the early 1900s and will have to be dug out and replaced "because we can't get parts for them."

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