Firefighting tools stolen from Pike Lake fire hall over Christmas holiday

It wasn't the way Pike Lake firefighters wanted to ring in the New Year.

Firefighters returned from their Christmas holidays to discover that the fire hall in Pike Lake, Sask., about 25 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon, had been broken into and firefighting tools had been stolen.

Pike Lake has a volunteer fire department and members were on break for the holidays. One of them returned on Dec. 30 and discovered the crime.

"He noticed that the lights were all left on and the bay doors of all the truck's cabinet doors were all open," Mike Given, fire chief for the Delisle and District Fire Department, said. "Doing a quick inventory he noticed that a number of our key tools were all missing."

Given said the break-in could have happened anytime between Dec. 24 and 30.

'Jaws of life' and other tools gone

The "Jaws of Life," an expensive piece of equipment used to get people out of car wrecks, was taken along with Milwaukee hand tools, chainsaws, drills and tool boxes.

"[It's] heartbreaking," Given said.

"It's a devastating feeling for our members to walk into the hall and realize that the tools that we need so much, that we worked so hard to get into our possession through fundraising and community events, to see it all just disappear."

The department has fire halls in Delisle and Pike Lake, and will be able to use equipment from the Delisle fire hall, but it could lead to delays in rescues, he said.

"For any incidents that happened down in that area of Pike, it's going to take us longer to get there with the tools that we need to do our job properly," Given said.

Ongoing investigation by RCMP

Given said RCMP have been investigating and were at the hall after the break-in to look for fingerprints, footprints and tire marks.

The fire department is now looking into security systems to help avoid future break-ins.

The department said community donations are welcome but not necessary, since insurance will cover the items lost.

"With the help of [the] community and through insurance we're hoping that we will be back to full strength," Given said. "It's just a matter of time and patience I guess."

Equipment could also be returned to the fire hall if the RCMP investigation is successful.

"Now we're just waiting to hear back from them on any types of leads they can share without breaking their protocol," Given said. "It's still somewhat early stages for them in their investigation."