VIDEO: Thieves made off this week with thousands of dollars worth of life-saving firefighting equipment taken right off of a parked fire engine in Graham and the city's Fire & Rescue Department is working to find ways to protect its gear.
The thefts have become more and more common across Western Washington in recent months.
Battalion Chief in training Matthew Black said it's heartbreaking that thieves are targeting the fire department considering that the thefts can keep them from serving the rest of their community.
He said firefighters had just wrapped up a safety training exercise on Wednesday and drove their fire truck to a Safeway for lunch when the most recent theft happened. In the brief time the crew was inside, they said someone opened a compartment of their fire engine and stole a large red bag that contained equipment used to save trapped firefighters, like an extra air supply and other tools.
