Standard-Speaker
TAMAQUA, Pa. — As Tamaqua firefighters extinguished a house fire Wednesday morning, someone stole their gear.
“While the firemen left the vehicle to fight the fire, the vehicle was entered and radios and equipment were stolen,” Capt. Jason Hartz of the Citizens Fire Company said. “They were caught. They were detained by the police.”
Asked if firefighters had been victims of theft before, Hartz shook his head and said: “No. That’s a first.”
Police Cpl. Henry Woods said the suspect is a juvenile, and police returned the stolen items to the firefighters.
The fire occurred in an empty half of a home at 208 Biddle St. to which power had been severed.
A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause.
The home sits where Biddle Street ends along the bank of the Little Schuylkill River. An alley called Water Street runs parallel to the river toward the east side of the home.
On Water Street, police placed the suspect in a patrol car.
Hand tools and other equipment lay on the ground along in a square until firefighters repacked them on their trucks.
Police spoke to a witness and lifted a hatchback of a sport utility vehicle parked in a driveway to look at a red gas can stowed in the back.
Hartz said all four volunteer companies from Tamaqua arrived, as did the Tamaqua Ambulance.
Firefighters found smoke on the second floor of the three-story home and confined the fire to a bedroom, he said.
At Biddle and Pine streets, fire police directed traffic as spectators gathered at the corner in front of St. John UCC.
With temperatures reaching the 70s and the sun bearing down, firefighters hung their jackets on trucks and fences while rolling hoses and stowing equipment after finishing their jobs.
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