Metal thieves are putting Burnaby’s highrise residents at risk by making off with a vital piece of firefighting equipment.
Standpipe connections – Y-shaped metal fixtures usually found outside the front doors of large buildings – are designed to link pipes inside to fire trucks and hydrants so water can be pumped to the upper floors in the event of a fire.
But the fire department is getting an increasing number of calls about the connections going missing, according to chief fire prevention officer Perry Talkkari.
“Somebody’s obviously doing something with them and they’re tearing them right out of the building,” he told the NOW.
The problem in Burnaby isn’t as extreme as that reported in Vancouver this week, according to Talkkari.
Police there said they are investigating 60 standpipe connection thefts in that city, mostly downtown and in the Downtown Eastside.
In Burnaby, the thefts have been concentrated in the northeast part of the city, according to Talkkari.
Investigators believe the equipment is being targeted because of its metal content.
In the past, it was not uncommon for the brass caps on the connections to go missing, according to Talkkari, but that didn’t present a significant problem for firefighters since they could still use the connections.
“When they take these connections, there’s no means of connecting at all, so the fire crews have to improvise, and now they have to take their hose lines right inside the building into the exit stairs and tie them in there,” he said.
That takes precious time and puts people and property at risk, he said.
Talkkari said the problem is growing, and property managers should be on the lookout.
“Once a month, they should be walking around and checking all connections to make sure there’s no damage to them, no debris in them, that the caps aren’t missing,” he said. “They should be doing that on a continual basis.”
