About $10K Worth of Gear Stolen from CA Fire Station

Firefighters in Monte Rio are ramping up security at the Duncans Mills station after someone broke in and stole about $10,000 worth of equipment some time between Saturday night and Sunday morning, according to a fire official.

Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman discovered several radios, chainsaws, generators and siren controllers were among the items stolen from the station’s fire trucks when he arrived Sunday morning at the station, which is off Highway 116 west of Monte Rio.

The station is usually not staffed unless there is an emergency, he said.

“We’re still going through the trucks to figure out what was taken,” said Baxman, who was perplexed that someone left more expensive equipment but took things like portable radios.

The perpetrator broke the latch on the bathroom window, which is on the backside of the building and faces the Russian River, Baxman said. They kicked the screen out, climbed through the window and rummaged through the trucks leaving gear strewn on the floor.

Aside from a motion sensor, there are currently no cameras or security alarms inside the 36-year-old building, Baxman said. Although, “we’re taking precautions to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Baxman said the incident was “a wake-up call.”

“We’ll get by,” he said. “Its just sad that people want to steal stuff from firehouses.”

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