Employees of a rural water district confiscated equipment from the Beaver Lake Fire Department after discovering some of its firefighters tapping into a fire hydrant to fill swimming pools, an official with the water district said.
The department hadn't notified the Benton County Water District it planned to tap the hydrant or arranged to pay for the water, said Eddie Cooper, water district manager.
"We confiscated the equipment they had on our hydrant," Cooper said.
Fire Department officials confirmed firefighters tapped fire hydrants to fill three private pools without first notifying water districts this summer.
A Benton County sheriff's office investigation determined there was nothing criminal about the rural department's actions, said Keshia Guyll, spokesman for the office. Theft of service can be a felony if the cost of the service is more than $500.
But the Fire Department misused the public utility, and an assistant fire chief with Beaver Lake Fire Department resigned over the matter, Cooper said.
Some of Cooper's employees were in the Beaver Lake area in July when they discovered the fire equipment hooked to a hydrant.
Fire Chief John Whisenant said the crews filled the private pools as part of training exercises. He said he personally paid $78 on July 17 for an estimated 12,900 gallons of water drawn from the Benton County hydrant in July.