Su Young-Leslie wasn’t intending to clean her garage floor on Sunday (December 4). Sadly, an act of vandalism left her with little choice.

Sometime between midnight and 3:30 a.m. a person or persons unknown opened the valves on several fire hydrants around Birch Avenue.

The water that came rushing out onto the streets created icy road conditions the next morning as well as flooding surrounding properties.

Young-Leslie was upset about the four inches of frigid water that invaded her garage, but doubted that those responsible were thinking much about the people their actions would affect.

“Vandalism is an evil, intentional act,” she said. “If vandals could be taught empathy, they might think twice.”

As she attempted to push the dirty water she was standing in out into the back alley, awash with the after effects of the crime, Young-Leslie proposed a unique method of punishing the culprits.

“I think a day spent chipping ice and bucketting water away to a safe run-off location might just help introduce some empathy,” she said.

Interfering with fire hydrants in this manner is an involved process, according to Ron Stanko, Jasper’s deputy fire chief.

“You’d have to have a tool in hand and intent in mind,” he said of the perpetrator. Although the fire department uses specific equipment to open hydrant valves, it isn’t necessary, he added.

“If you know what you’re doing you can get it open.”

There is little that the fire department or police can do to prevent would-be vandals from opening hydrant valves, Stanko said.

“We can’t put a lock on them or anything like that because that would impede access in the case of an emergency.”

In the immediate aftermath of an incident such as this, the most pressing concern for Stanko and his colleagues is to ensure that the affected hydrants haven’t frozen over.

“We have enough water supply and so on,” Stanko said. “If the hydrants have frozen we’d have to get a heater in before we could open the valve again in the winter.”

As the Fitzhugh went to press the RCMP was still investigating the matter with little progess to report. The total extent of the damage has yet to be determined. 

The police are encouraging anyone with information about the vandalism to come forward. 

The contact number for the Jasper detachment is 852-4848 and people can also call Crimestoppers at 1-800-422-8477.