The Wayne Township Fire Department is pleading with motorists to avoid driving over fire hoses.
Bright yellow fire hoses are usually pretty hard to miss, especially when they are rolled out near a fire scene, 6News' Ericka Flye reported.
Twice within the past week, Wayne Township firefighters have had to deal with drivers running over supply hoses. The department said it's a serious problem for firefighters everywhere because water flowing at 500 to 1,000 gallons per minute are suddenly cut off.
Fire officials said they don't think many motorists known that it is against state law to run over a fire hose.
"Put yourself in a house at 600 to 700 degrees. You're searching for people that might be entrapped in this house, and the next thing you know, you have no water," said Wayne Township fire Capt. Michael Pruitt.
Wayne Township's hoses were damaged at the scene of a plane crash. Then, last week, firefighters were inside a home fighting a blaze when someone drove over the hose, cutting the water supply.
Driving over a fire supply hose is a Class C felony in Indiana, and carries a minimum $150 fine. It also carries possible jail time.
"Get a firefighter hurt, get a firefighter killed and it's potluck what you're going to end up with," Pruitt said.
Damaged hoses cost thousands of dollars to fix or replace. Motorists should ask an officer to direct them around fire hoses.
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