PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Investigators in Pierce County are looking for a pair of thieves who stole $30,000 of fire equipment from the Key Peninsula Fire Department.
The theft happened around midnight on Aug. 1, and thenewly released surveillance video shows the bold theft caught on camera.
The two bold thieves can be seen pulling up in a truck in the back parking lot of the Key Peninsula Fire Department headquarters at 8911 Key Peninsula Highway.
“He starts using bolt cutters to cut open a storage container on the back of one of the trucks. He broke several windows, you see him climbing into the vehicles,” Sgt. Darren Moss, Jr. with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
Four vehicles were broken into, and one of the department’s division chiefs had much of his fire gear stolen, along with water rescue gear, an air tank, and a radio, altogether valued at around $30,000.
“There’s not a whole lot you can do with this equipment for personal use or a resale value,” Sgt. Moss said. “It might be high-value equipment, but you’re not going to be able to resell it, and the person is buying it doesn’t have good use for it as well.”
“You can’t sell police and fire radios or jaws of life or any of the fire equipment tools without somebody asking the question ‘Where did you get this from?’” Moss added. “A lot of this stuff has markings on it as well.”
Key Peninsula Fire Chief Nick Swinhart said the equipment likely doesn’t have much use or value to anyone and was likely just ditched somewhere, but it’s of significant importance to the fire department.
Investigators in Pierce County have also noticed more incidents like this targeting their first responders. They’ve taken reports on multiple incidents over the past eight months.
“Brown’s Point Fire Department, their truck was broken into while they were parked at a grocery store, we had a Central Pierce Fire rig that was broken to at a grocery store down in Graham, and just around the corner, here the brand new PIO for the Tacoma Fire Department had her vehicle broken into and all their camera equipment was stolen,” Sgt. Moss said.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for any information on this latest incident that leads to an arrest. Tips can remain anonymous and can be submitted at Tpcrimestoppers.com or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS.