WINFIELD TWP — For a brief time, there were nothing but unnamed roads in the township.

That was because every road sign was stolen.

"We had to replace every single one," said township Supervisor Glenn Nagle, who is the township roadmaster, after Thursday's township meeting.

He said each aluminum sign costs more than $100.

"It's well over $4,000," Nagle said about the total cost of the stolen signs.

He said the thefts occurred mainly during a 48-hour period beginning the evening of April 6.

Some of the sign's poles, which are fitted into metal stubs, also were missing.

"They must have it down to an art," Nagle said about the thieves' efficiency and speed.

He said the motive was likely some type of prank because the metal is not valuable.

"For scrap, they're worth zero," Nagle said.

People began reporting missing signs April 7. Additional ones disappeared by the following day.

Nagle said the thefts not only took money out of township coffers, but they created a public safety issue.

Emergency vehicles would have been hard pressed to find people's homes without the road signs.

"Someone's life is at stake," Nagle said.

Frank Matis, county emergency services director, agreed.

Matis said this morning missing street signs would create a problem by slowing response time.

While members of the Winfield Volunteer Fire Company would know the roads even without the signs, paramedics, state police and other fire departments would have difficulty responding to the scene.

"A lot of them are not as familiar with the roads as the locals are," Matis said.

However, the task wouldn't be impossible.

Emergency dispatchers could direct crews by using maps stored in the county's Geographic Information Systems, which is comprised of computerized maps.

"We can plug in an address," Matis said about the ease in finding a location. "That's the beauty of this GIS system."

He said while thefts of one or two street signs are common, stealing more than 40 at a time is rare.

"I'm not aware of that happening before," Matis said.

State police in Butler are investigating the case. Anyone with information about the thefts should call them at 724-284-8100.