Young Men Tap Fire Hydrant for 26,000 Gallons to Fill Backyard Ice Rink

said they were called to the backyard of a home near Tinley Park High School this week, where two men had used 26,000 gallons of fire hydrant water to create a do-it-yourself ice rink.

A high school custodian alerted the cops around 7:30 p.m. Sunday to a hose connected to a fire hydrant on the west side of the property. The hydrant was on, according to the report, and leading through a fence and into a wooded area behind a home in the 17600 block of Highland Avenue.

"I observed the fire hydrant was on and there was a significant amount of water in the grass area which was partially frozen, indicating the hydrant was on for an extended amount of time," an officer wrote in the report.

Police found a large 93-foot by 41-foot ice rink the backyard of the home, they said. Timothy J. Ryan, 20, of the 5100 block of West Otto Place in Oak Lawn, and Anthony L. Nelin, 20, of the 6300 block of West 167th Street in Tinley Park, approached responding officers and told them they were the ones who made the rink, the report said. 

A resident of the home told the cops she was aware of the makeshift pond but didn't know that a fire hydrant was being used to fill it.

secured the hydrant and public works employees were on scene to help address the issue. Nelin said he'd hooked up a fire hose — a 500-foot long one that police confiscated — that he'd received from a relative, the report said.

Ryan and Nelin will likely be fined and asked to pay what the water is worth, which is a little less than $130, Tinley Park interim police Chief Phil Valois said Wednesday.

The pair was issued citations for tampering with a fire hydrant and are scheduled to appear in court Jan. 26.

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