The Modesto Bee
MODESTO, Calif. — Officials estimate that $30,000 in equipment was stolen Tuesday from a rural fire station west of Modesto.
The break-in occurred about 2 p.m. at the Woodland Avenue Fire Protection District station on Hart Road, Chief Mike Passalaqua said.
Someone used a pry bar to open a locked door and gain entry to the station. Those responsible went through a fire truck and took what they could carry from the building, the chief said.
The stolen items included portable radios, a medical bag, life vests, brass hose fittings, wrenches, a mask and wildland firefighting gear.
A piece of rescue equipment also was reported stolen, according to the Woodland Avenue Firefighter Association’s Facebook page. The chief said the device is used to stabilize an overturned vehicle as firefighters try to remove a person pinned inside.
Passalaqua said the volunteer firefighters carry portable radios for safety when they go into a smoking structure. Some of the other equipment is used when the volunteers put out grass fires.
“I always thought that kind of equipment was sacred, but I guess nothing is anymore.” Passalaqua said.
The chief said the break-in occurred sometime after he stopped at the Hart Road station at noon Tuesday. A person living near the station keeps an eye on it but was at a doctor’s appointment until 3 p.m.
District officials hope a motorist on the well-traveled road saw suspicious activity and will report it to law enforcement.
Passalaqua expects insurance to cover the cost of replacing the stolen equipment, and the district likely will install an alarm system at the station, he said. Other departments have offered to loan equipment until the stolen items are replaced, the chief said.
Woodland is a volunteer department that protects the rural area west of Modesto and responds to some unincorporated pockets within the city. The district’s primary station is on Woodland Avenue, just outside the city boundary, so the burglary should not hamper the ability to respond to west Modesto neighborhoods.
Woodland has 26 volunteers and gets by on a $170,000 annual budget.
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