MINEOLA — It's not a well known crime, but it's one that is serious and dangerous to fire departments.
The Mineola Fire Department was battling a structure fire near Lake Holbrook yesterday when a car drove up and over their hose.
"Instead of turning around it kept going and there was no way to avoid running over the hose because of how we had it," Fire Marshal David Madsen said.
Thankfully the hose did not bust, but driving over one is a Class C misdemeanor and punishable with a $500 citation.
If the hose had been broken though some of the fire fighters could have been in trouble.
"So had he lost water supply then the attack lines would not have had any water while the fire fighters were inside," Madsen said.
This is not the first time this has happened to the Mineola Fire Department.
"We had this actually happen here in the city about 3 or 4 years ago and it did bust the hose," Madsen said. "And our police officers found the guy, wrote him a ticket and our city judge made him pay the fine plus restitution for a new section of hose."
The cost to replace a section of hose is $500.