By Zack Harold
Charleston Daily Mail
SISSONVILLE, W. Va. — Earlier this week, thieves broke into the Sissonville Volunteer Fire Department’s concession trailer and made off with about $2,000 worth of equipment.
“They broke into it and stole all of our bun warmers and hot dog cookers, all that kind of stuff,” said Chief Thomas Johnson. “We detected it (Wednesday). They cleaned it out. There was nothing left.”
The trailer was parked under a streetlight outside the department’s Edens Fork station.
Johnson doesn’t know when the robbery occurred but said firefighters were at the station on Monday and didn’t notice anything amiss. He said he suspects someone broke in Tuesday.
“We’re not around the station. It’s not a full-time station,” he said.
The department uses the concession trailer for fundraisers at area events and to serve food and drinks at disaster scenes.
They also used the concession stand to raise money for a new fire station. A fire on Oct. 1, 2010 destroyed the department’s main Sissonville Drive firehouse and three fire trucks parked inside.
Johnson said thieves stole a canopy, two bun warmers, a hot dog cooker, a coffee pot and other equipment. He estimates the equipment cost between $1,500 and $2,000 but “until we get a complete inventory done on it, that’s a wild guess.”
The fire deparment reported the theft to police on Wednesday. Johnson said Thursday he hasn’t heard back from law enforcement.
“We’ll give them a couple of days to work it out. They’re going to be working as close as they can,” he said. “We will prosecute.”
He said the department probably would not file a claim with its insurance carrier. Its policy includes a $1,000 deductible, and the insurance carrier recently paid out $1.4 million to help the department replace its station and equipment.
“Because of the big loss we’ve had prior to now, we’re not sure we’re going to turn it over to our insurance company. It’s just like a car accident. You don’t turn in five accidents on the same car in the same month,” Johnson said.
“We may just have to eat this one and go on with it,” he said.
The department recently received $735,000 to replace the trucks it lost in the fire, $100,000 to replace breathing apparatuses, $50,000 for an air compressor to fill oxygen tanks and around $15,000 to replace an ATV firefighters use in deep woods rescues, Johnson said.
He said the concession stand equipment would be easy to replace.
“That stuff can be bought local at some of these restaurant supply stores,” Johnson said.
“We’ll get around it. We’ve overcome worse.”
Copyright 2011 Charleston Newspapers