OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City Police Department (OCPD this week) is urging condominium residents to check their fire suppression systems after recovering 10 stolen brass standpipe valves.
The OCPD on Wednesday announced it had recovered 10 brass fire standpipe valves. Investigators believe the recovered valves were stolen from unknown locations in the north end of Ocean City.
The standpipe valves allow fire department personnel to quickly provide a water source from the ground level to the upper levels of a building in the event of a fire. A missing standpipe valve renders a building’s entire fire suppression system inoperative.
OCPD detectives are currently looking for a suspect or suspects involved in the thefts. Brass standpipe valves and other fixtures are sometimes stolen for the salvage value. Earlier this year, the OCPD investigated the theft of several standpipe valves from the stairwells of five midtown condo buildings.
The valves are utilized by firefighters to fight fires on upper floors and remote areas of buildings. Not are the very costly to replace, but missing valves could potentially endanger the lives of residents and firefighters by impacting their ability to fight fires in impacted buildings.
To that end, the OCPD is urging residents and condo associations to inspect their systems in an attempt to identify any missing valves. Anyone who discovers missing valves, or who has information about the 10 standpipe valves recovered this week is urged to contact the Ocean City Police Department at 410-723-6600.
