TITUS, Ala.-- A vandal did major damage to the ability of the Titus Volunteer Fire Department to assist residents of the community by damaging two trucks and fire department facilities causing thousands of dollars worth of damage in the process.
Calls came into the department Friday evening -- someone had taken a tree stump and thrown it through a window and made off with one of the volunteer fire department's trucks.
"We found the truck wrapped around a tree," says Titus Fire Chief Wayne Moore. The department had spent years fund raising and outfitting the truck to respond to car wrecks and medical calls. It was faster than the bigger trucks and less expensive to run.
"This is very difficult for a lot of the guys because of the amount of time and the amount of work that went into getting that truck up to where we needed it to be to serve the community. That's all gone," says the chief.
But that's not all that happened. Believe it or not the vandal was not satisfied with one round of destruction. He apparently opted to return a second time after the volunteers had cleaned up after the first incident. He took another truck out of the building, parked it in the driveway and left, leaving the truck to roll back into the garage door, breaking out windows and bending the door.
"It's real disheartening to see something like this, especially the way it happened, really needless for it to happen this way," says Chief Moore.
The vandal also broke into the department's secondary facility down the street, spray painted the windows, ransacked the cupboards and stole some food. The department says that stuff can be easily replaced. Replacing the truck will not be so easy.
A new truck would cost more than $125,000 and they say it is unlikely insurance will pay for all the repairs needed. The Titus fire chief says he'll check with the insurance company to find out what will be covered and after getting the repair costs the department will again begin to raise the funds needed to make up the difference between the repair costs and what the insurance company will pay.
If you would like to help the Titus Volunteer Fire Department, you may contact them at 850-4987.
Republished with permission of WSFA-TV.
