Furnace oil stolen from fire department

SMITHS COVE — A Digby County fire department that won $5,000 in a photo contest found out that they are not as financially ahead as they thought because someone has been stealing furnace oil from their tank.

In November, the Smiths Cove department won the cash after the Reserve Mines Volunteer Fire Department, which had been leading the AA Munro Insurance contest’s online voting, withdrew so Smith Cove could win and put the money toward muchneeded equipment.

But in late December, the department discovered someone had been siphoning off oil from their tank.

Fire Chief Josh Snyder said they’re estimating that $1,500 to $2,000 worth of oil was stolen in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

“We we were on Christmas break and we were going through a high amount of oil and they suspected it was being stolen,” Snyder said. “We went through our statements, and it showed we were going through a high amount more than normal, and it got to the point that we were running out, and that’s not normal for us.”

There’s no way of telling how long the thefts have been taking place, he said.

“It’s possible someone had been skimming a little off the top and maybe things changed this year and someone decided to take more, or maybe it was multiple people, it’s hard to say.”

The department has secured their tank to prevent more thefts. Since then, they haven’t run out and their usage has been lower.

Snyder said the department thought it was getting ahead with the photo contest money.

“It was gut-wrenching and heart-breaking,” he said, “You pour your heart and soul into it and thought you caught a break, then you have to go and fight for more money to put oil in the tank.”

He said firefighters at the station were in disbelief when the theft was discovered.

“It was anger, it was frustration,” he said.

This week, their oil supplier gave them a credit for 1,000 litres of oil. They had earlier turned down an offer of oil from another company, asking that it be donated instead to a church or another department in need.

“It was pride, we’re the type of people who didn’t want to accept that sort of thing, and asked that it be given to someone else,” Snyder said.

He said they would have declined the credit as well, but it had been retroactively applied to their account.