AURORA, Colo. — Vandals have opened hydrants five times across Aurora since Oct. 30, spilling a half-million gallons of water each time – one of them in sub-zero temperatures this week – Aurora Water said on Friday.
Aurora Water and the Aurora Police Department asked for tips on the vandals or a black 1998-2007 Chevy/GMC crew cab pickup that was seen at the scenes.
Aurora Police said the five instances started Oct. 30:
- 2:30 a.m. Oct. 30, Mrachek Middle School, 1955 S. Telluride St.
- 2:45 a.m. Oct. 30, Tower Community Fellowship, 1800 S. Tower Road
- 11 p.m. Nov. 1, East Louisiana Avenue and South Harvest Road
- 10 p.m. Dec. 16, Tower Community Fellowship, 1800 S. Tower Road
- 2:30 a.m. Dec. 22, Vassar Elementary School, 18101 E. Vassar Place
The most recent instance at Vassar Elementary happened Thursday morning, during the city's coldest temperatures since 1990, police said.
"This is serious. Roads become sheets of ice, become impassable in some cases. And then, for the fire department, if we need to get somewhere and provide water for a structure fire, now we have a lot less pressure in that area to get water on a fire," said Sherri-Jo Stowell, spokesperson for the Aurora Fire Department.
Anyone with information on the case can contact Denver Metro Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or metrodenvercrimestoppers.com. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
Metro Denver Crime Stoppers works by assigning a code to people who anonymously submit a tip. Information is shared with law enforcement, and Crime Stoppers is notified at the conclusion of the investigation.
From there, an awards committee reviews the information provided and, if the information leads to an arrest, the tipster will be notified. Rewards can be collected using the code numbers received when the tip was originally submitted.
> More information about Metro Denver Crime Stoppers can be found here.
> Additional Crime Stoppers bulletins can be found here.
More 9NEWS coverage of Aurora:
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and 9NEWS+ Daily, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates, and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.