Pranksters may have opened dozens of fire hydrants

Fire hydrants in Brookhaven and Smithtown were opened during the weekend, in what one fire official said appeared to be a coordinated prank.

Chief Joseph Leavens of the Selden Fire Department said he and volunteers started closing opened hydrants about 3 a.m. Sunday and finished about 5 a.m. He estimated they closed 12 hydrants.

The Suffolk County Water Authority said it closed about 22 during the same period, in Ridge, Coram, Selden, Terryville, Hauppauge, Smithtown and Deer Park.

Other fire departments handled at least 10 other opened hydrants, the SCWA said.

Suffolk police confirmed they received reports of opened hydrants Saturday night and Sunday morning in Farmingville, Mount Sinai, Middle Island, Centereach and Selden, and said they are looking into the matter.

"It appears it might be some type of collaboration," Leavens said. One opened hydrant washed enough soil from under a sidewalk on Holiday Park Drive in Centereach that Brookhaven Town had to repair the site, he said. In addition to the mess, he said, open hydrants lowers water pressure, which would hamper firefighting.