ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A St. Louis Fire Department captain who built a fix overnight for hydrants stripped by metal thieves received the city Excellence in Service Award, presented by Mayor Cara Spencer and Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson.
Capt. Bradley Trower designed an emergency plug adapter after thieves took brass valves from more than 85 hydrants to sell for scrap, leaving nearby neighborhoods without reliable water for firefighting. The adapter lets crews hook up to a damaged hydrant and get water flowing again.
The department named it the Brad Trower Supply Device, and one will be assigned to every fire truck. Jenkerson said it also works on hydrants whose threads are too worn for hoses to attach. He put the price of a new replacement at $8,000 to $9,000 per hydrant, since the older models are out of production, and the city plans to swap them out over several years.
Police later made an arrest in the case. Jenkerson said the suspect was picked up in Granite City, Illinois, and now faces 85 felony counts of property damage under an indictment. City Chief Operating Officer Col. Ben Jonsson said copper and brass thefts have become a citywide problem, including wire thefts that darkened lights along the Eads Bridge and the riverfront.
Trower, who accepted the award with his family beside him, called the project a team effort and thanked everyone who helped. The device is not perfect and still leaks, he has said, but it moves enough water for an engine to fight a fire.
Spencer said Trower saw a danger to neighborhoods and did not wait for a long-term repair before building his own. Jenkerson said firefighters must always be ready and that a dead hydrant puts everyone at risk.
The award was handed out at fire department headquarters, 1421 N. Jefferson.
Section: More St. Louis MO crime news
Filed under: St. Louis MO Public Safety News
