[Beaumont Enterprise] Teen Steals Fire Truck from Scene and Wrecks It

FWIW, the West End is the upper middle class and upscale part of Beaumont.
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Stolen and wrecked firetruck was department's most expensive

By: JENNIFER AVILLA, The Enterprise
01/03/2007

A 17-year-old who was "cold" and "tired of walking" took and then crashed a $650,000 fire engine in the West End Tuesday morning, said Beaumont Fire Chief Michel "Micky" Bertrand.

The Quint 9, a nickname referring to the five different functions the apparatus performs along with the station number, is the most expensive piece of equipment the fire department owns and serves as both a pump and ladder truck, said City Manager Kyle Hayes.

Fire trucks were called to an electrical short at the Calder Oaks Apartments on Calder Avenue and while inside, crews heard a beeping noise that signaled the engine was heading in reverse. When firefighters went outside to check on the Quint 9, they noticed a civilian behind the wheel.

The teenaged white man slammed the engine into a brick column and then took the truck for a ride through West End neighborhoods. Police started searching for the truck, which measures 44 feet bumper-to-bumper, and found it flipped on its side at the corner of Laurel Street and East Caldwood Drive.

"He tried to negotiate that turn too fast and the truck turned over and it slid a little bit on its side," said Bertrand, whose last day on the job was Tuesday. "It caused a tremendous amount of damage."

The person who apparently fled from the overturned vehicle was found in a resident's garage, and is accused of lunging at an officer who then struck the suspect several times, according to the police report. He was taken by EMS to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital.

He will be charged with first-degree felony theft and is being held at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility, said Shirley Spitzer, dispatch supervisor at the police department.

Repairing or replacing the piece of equipment could take more than a year, Bertrand said.

"The whole passenger side of it is completely crunched and bent," he said.

And the engine was the only "true Quint" the fire department owned. Similar equipment that serves other areas of town has smaller water tanks, Bertrand said.

"It's taken away the aerial apparatus that covers the northwest area of the city," he said. "If we have a structure fire that needs an aerial apparatus, then the response time is going to be longer to call one in from another area of town, so it makes a significant impact."

While rare, it's not unprecedented for thieves to take items from the fire department.

"The last time I remember was we had somebody steal one of our portable radios off a chief's car," Bertrand said.

The youth started talking with the fire department on the radio until an arson investigator finally convinced him to disclose his location. The department then retrieved its equipment.

Sometimes fire stations are victims of theft when the firefighters leave on a call.

"If somebody's got a mind to break in and take something, they can do it whether it's a fire station or a residence," Bertrand said, adding that some firefighters remember an instance in which someone unsuccessfully tried to steal a truck.

But taking off in a fire truck isn't exactly like driving a four-door sedan.

"It's obviously somebody that had some type of knowledge about commercial vehicles because you had to release the air brakes, plus driving an apparatus like that is not easy - it's long," Bertrand said.

And it's not like the firefighters left keys in the engine - the truck is designed to turn on with master switches.

"They are ready to go when you jump in there," Bertrand said. "There's really quite a bit to it, but this guy managed to steal it before our firefighters could get out there to him."

Usually firefighters are standing near trucks or engines and if they do step away, they are not gone for long, Bertrand said.

"There's usually plenty of activity on the scene, so it does not happen very often that we lose anything off a truck or engine," he said. "That equipment is very expensive and our firefighters are very well aware of that and they keep an eye out for it."

As for the Quint 9, it will be towed to the manufacturer in Wisconsin for repairs unless it is deemed unusable. In that case, the city will have to decide whether to purchase a new one, Bertrand said.

javilla@beaumontenterprise.com

(409) 880-0731

 

Oddly enough, the City of Beaumont just lost a lawsuit where they tried to get out of giving the firefighters a 27% raise they were awarded in arbitration. I'm betting the Council/Mayor/Manager doesn't want to hear anything from the fire department for a long time after this.