Editor’s note: Many firefighters have stories about discovering similar crimes, or more unusual events, after returning to quarters after a call. It’s a fact of firehouse life that our stations will often be unoccupied while we serve the community.
It’s important to remember, however, that securing our own working and living environment is an essential part of protecting our own. Unfortunately, we can’t always depend on the neighbors, or visitors, to take care of things while we’re away.
While it’s not possible to completely secure what is, in effect, a public building, there are a number of simple things we can do to reduce the risk of crime: provide locks on exterior openings and change combinations (if uses) routinely; close apparatus bay doors after exiting the building; ensure proper exterior lighting; fence/gate parking lots in high-risk areas; and most important, keep your situational awareness up when responding to, and returning from, calls.
Chief Adam K. Thiel, FireRescue1 Editorial Advisor
By Tina Sfondeles
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — The television was not taken. And no wallets were stolen.
An apparently hungry thief broke into a Near West Side firehouse Tuesday night, making away with food from a communal locker and nothing more.
The break-in happened about 9 p.m. at Engine 26 at 10 N. Leavitt as firefighters responded to the Eisenhower Expy. for an accident, fire Lt. Frank Burens said.
That run was unfounded, and firefighters came back to find the food they planned to make for dinner was gone, Burens said.
Police said a rear window was forced open and its screen was pushed in.
Firehouses are left unattended depending on the type of call and the engine company, Burens said.
But thieves have gotten away with far more in the past.
“They’ve taken TVs, VCRs, gone through lockers, grabbed personal items,” Fire Department spokesman Joe Roccasalva said.
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