Residents in North Baltimore’s Harwood neighborhood started noticing something they thought was strange: A truck kept coming by, taking water from a fire hydrant on their street.
Residents who shared photos and spoke with WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates said they have seen a truck park near the intersection of Barclay and East 26th streets on Saturdays. They said they have seen a landscaping company worker get out of the truck with a tool to open the fire hydrant and fill a water tank before leaving.
Frank Crowley and others who live nearby wonder whether the action is legal.
“It’s not something one should do,” Crowley told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
The residents also have another concern: how this took place at least six times even though the Baltimore City Department of Public Works has continually asked since the spring for everyone to voluntarily conserve water because of drought conditions.
“(It’s) unfair to the community,” Crowley told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates. “I think it’s terrible. The company should be held accountable.”
The DPW’s chief of research and environmental protection, Kimberly Grove, told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates that the agency is now investigating.
“It is concerning, and we really appreciate the community bringing this to our attention, being mindful of it,” Grove told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates. “Under the city code and water and wastewater regulations, any access to a fire hydrant must be approved or permitted by DPW. We’ve been working with Baltimore Fire Department and our own ground crews to monitor and see if anybody is accessing a hydrant, that they do have a permit on their person.”
“Any access to a fire hydrant must be approved or permitted by DPW.”
WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates discovered the company is Carter Landscaping, and it did not have a permit.
“It has been happening; it is an error on my part,” said David Carter, owner of Carter Landscaping.
Carter admits he should have made sure his landscaping firm applied for and received a permit. He said that, in the past, his company has gone through the permitting process.
Carter, who has been in business for 16 years, said his crews recently removed concrete to make room to plant trees for neighborhood associations and nonprofit organizations.
“I’ve been doing tree-planting around the city for the past three years. We’ve planted about 600 trees around the city, water them, mulch them and keep them maintained,” Carter told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
Still, Carter said his workers should not have opened the hydrant and taken water from it without permission. He said his company is currently applying for a permit through the DPW.
