MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. --
A homeowner in Mount Pleasant told 12 news he awoke to pounding at his door Saturday morning.
He said he looked out the window and saw emergency vehicles. "My first reaction was, 'wow, what's going on?' And then from upstairs, I saw them coming to my house."
As rescue squads stormed his house looking for a fire that was reported, the person who called 911 slipped into the firehouse.
What the robber didn't know is a firefighter in the back of the truck saw him slip in and called police.
Fire Chief Bill Bouma met officers at the firehouse.
In less than two minutes, vials of painkillers were stolen from the drug box inside the parked ambulance.
"It's pretty obvious what they were after because nothing else was touched," said South Shore Fire Department Chief Bill Bouma.
Bouma said the caller knew how to clear the firehouse, by reporting a home with fire coming from two windows in the middle of the night.
"It has to be somebody who knows our operation. Maybe has been in our ambulance as a patient, or maybe it's somebody who's ridden with us," said Bouma.
The fire chief says the department is reviewing its security plan and have warned the more than 800 Wisconsin fire departments to be on the lookout for fake fire calls.
Fake Fire Distracts Firefighters, Thief Steals Drugs
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