Fisherman Accused of Stealing AK Fire Apparatus to Drive to Bar

He was desperate to extinguish his thirst.

An Alaskan fisherman stole a firetruck, turned on its sirens, drove the emergency vehicle 15 miles down a highway and parked it outside the Fisherman’s Bar in Naknek, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Bristol Bay Borough police said that Dawson Cody Porter was arrested outside the watering hole following his 30-minute ride. He faces charges including burglary, vehicle theft and criminal mischief. Porter is also accused of violating release conditions related to a previous arrest.

The 22-year-old suspect is accused of causing $10,000 damage after breaking a window to gain entry to the unoccupied King Salmon Fire Station, then driving the $100,000 truck through the station house’s closed bay doors around 9 p.m. Saturday.

Porter can’t blame cabin fever for his need to get to a bar immediately. Alaska became the first U.S. state to reopen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when all businesses were cleared to resume operations at 100% on May 22.

Porter is from Eagle River in Anchorage, more than 400 miles from the 900-person fishing town of Bristol Bay.

According to the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department’s website, “when fully staffed,” the office has a chief of police, three full time police officers, two seasonal police officers and six “dispatchers/corrections officers with 2 of them also having duties within DMV.”

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