Firehouse burglarized while firefighters were out battling Calif. wildfire
Firefighters battling a wildfire in California were victims of a burglary on Sunday, fire officials there say, after crews returning from battling the blaze discovered the firehouse had been robbed.
According to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Aubert, firefighters at Fire Station No. 7 in Walnut Creek were dispatched to the 800-acre Morgan Fire near Mount Diablo State Park. When they arrived back at the firehouse, they noticed items had been moved around.
"Soon as I looked around, something didn't look right," JuDon Cherry, one of the station's firefighters, told KTVU. "I looked for my iPad. It was missing, my bag had been rummaged through; they took my watch and my [wedding] ring."
The burglars broke into lockers and desks in the dorm area of the firehouse, Aubert said.
Two wedding rings were reported stolen, as well as cash and the captain's iPad.
“Once you go out there and you protect other people's property and come back and find your own was broken into, it's kind of hard to take," Cherry said.
Aubert said there was also an attempted burglary early Monday at Fire Station No. 3 in Walnut Creek while firefighters were asleep. The would-be burglar tried to break in through a window screen but woke the sleeping firefighters up and fled.
