TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Volunteer firefighters are shaking their heads in disbelief after someone stole a winch right off the front of their truck.
The Lake Talquin Volunteer Fire Department took to social media in hopes that someone knows something.
Assistant Chief Kenneth Harvey said a brush truck was in a nearby repair shop when someone broke in and stole the winch.
“Someone came in there Thursday night, unbolted it, cut the electrical cables to it and took it off the truck and stole it,” Harvey said. “Somebody came and stole it off a firetruck of all things.”
Firefighters use the winch often to help pull downed trees from the road and rescue people and cars from ponds and ditches.
“They’re a good safety tool that we use all the time and it’s $1,000 to replace,” Harvey said. “We’ve got to figure out if the insurance company is going to help us replace it or if it’s coming out of our small funds.”
Harvey called the theft a “harm to the community.”
“It’s just vandals and thieves that want to steal stuff, when it’s stuff that helps save lives,” Harvey said.
WCTV confirmed the Leon County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the repair shop break-in and theft.
The Lake Talquin Volunteer Fire Department covers a lot of ground, responding to calls in far western Leon County all the way to Gadsden and Liberty County lines to the west and the Wakulla County line to the south.
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