Fire trucks siphoned of gas strand McLeese Lake volunteer firefighters
A volunteer fire department north of Williams Lake was left short-handed Saturday after they tried to respond to an emergency but found two fire trucks had been siphoned of gas.
According to a Facebook post on the McLeese Lake Fire Department’s page, the firefighters were called to an accident Saturday where a truck had gone off the road and hit a power poll. The accident then sparked a bush fire.
Seven members of the MLVFD as well as the B.C. Wildfire Service were on hand to put out the fire, while the occupants of the truck escaped with only minor injuries.
After commending his team for “a good safe day and job well done,” Fire Chief Ian Hicks went on to mention the “notso-good note.”
“Our yellow pumper wouldn’t start to attend the fire as it has been SIPHONED OF FUEL — I don’t have to explain my feelings on this as it should be obvious,” Hicks wrote. “Red truck was siphoned as well but enough fuel left to attend the fire.”
The fire chief noted that security cameras would soon be installed to monitor the trucks.
“Hard to stomach collecting bottles and selling burgers to buy fuel and then this,” Hicks said of the efforts put into keeping the volunteer fire department operational.
McLeese Lake is located about 40 kilometres north of Williams Lake.