2 Fire trucks stolen in South Carolina

[BFDCAR5 0]

fire trucks taken from volunteer department in Calhoun County

The Associated Press

Related Content

http://www.timesanddemocrat.com

ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. --The latest hot vehicles in Calhoun County were two tanker trucks stolen from a volunteer fire department.

Both have been recovered, officials said.

A fire-engine red tanker was found Thursday afternoon, just hours after it went missing when someone kicked in the back door of the station, said Randy Stabler, chairman of the fire department board. Its front end was smashed with the fender in a pine tree, Stabler said.

The second tanker, a white 1971 model with "Caw Caw Volunteer Fire Department" painted on the doors, was found Friday in heavy woods about two miles from the station after the Dorchester County deputies let their colleagues in Calhoun County borrow a police plane.

The second tanker doesn't appear to be damaged, but will be inspected before it returns to the fleet, authorities said.

"That's the lifeblood of a fire department. If you don't have a tanker, you don't have water. If you don't have water, then you can't fight fires," Stabler said.

It would have cost the department at least $70,000 to replace a tanker. The vehicles are vital because there are only three fire hydrants in the department's 14-square mile coverage area, officials said.

Word of the missing tankers spread quickly through the small county, and Sheriff Thomas Summers has his deputies and volunteers scouring dirt roads and hunting paths.

"I can't recall a fire truck ever being stolen before, not in my 10 years as sheriff," Summers said. "They don't realize the damage they've done, monetarily or to the community if they need a fire truck."

[Guest]

any information on if the keys for the apparatus were in them, or in a lock box in the bays?

[DR104 141]

Mostl fire appartus do not have keys. Push start and a battery switch

[helicopper 1,050]

Somebody need to fill a new swimming pool??

[Guest]

They probably were related to the jackass from Mt.Vernon that took off with the rig.

[DOC22 1]

They probably were related to the jackass from Mt.Vernon that took off with the rig.

Yeah, and didn't something similar happen in Canada that actually was a relative? Just goes to show--- "The Apple don't Fall Far from the Tree."

[Oswegowind 17]

Somebody need to fill a new swimming pool??

Maybe they needed to fill the pool that was stolen (story in Friday's Daily News)! Woman didn't notice her pool was missing til a neighbor asked her about it!

On the other hand...hope they catch the people responsible!

[Capejake72 8]

all of our trucks are commerical chassis, so they still have keyed ignitions, and few of the forestry stations actually have garages, so all of our units are stored outside, though at the end of the day we pull the keys and lock the doors, the keys are kept inside the ranger station (which is also locked overnight)