A word with the moldy shitstain who vandalized our firehouse

The BBQ Pit
1

Listen, you little ignorant fuck…

This is a VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY, and you live 2 HOURS away from anyone who is paid to help your SORRY FUCKING ASS. When you are dumb enough to drop your joint in the grass outside your house, or unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of the one of the summer’s next 8000+ dry lightening strikes… it is the trucks that are parked in that same firehouse that are going to come to the rescue. They are going to be carrying your neighbors, who drop everything and put you, your belongings, and your property at the top of their priority list.

When you slice your femoral artery open with a chainsaw, it is those people who are going to come save your fucking life.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Oh…and an extra special kick in the nads from me, because the building is dedicated to my late father, who spent 16 years of his life building the organization from nothing.

2

Or maybe not. They should at least consider taking the scenic route.

3

More details, please.

4

Broke in through a locked door (there was a hidden key that is fairly easy to find, but the consensus has always been that not putting security as the first priority when people might be in a hurry to reach emergency equipment is better than a fire hoping the road while you try to find the right key on the keychain that you only use when the shit is hitting the fan). A the little shit(s) didn’t steal anything that was there anyway. A second-hand back-board doesn’t make for a cool trophy, I guess, and most of everything else is locked tight to the trucks themselves.

What they did do was spray paint “Assholes” and “Fuck you” across the “Burn permits required” sign, across the floor slab, across the side of the one truck that was there (the other one was off in service to this (pdf) fire at the time), and then they painstakingly wrote dozens of “fuck you” notes and taped them everywhere with electrical tape.

5

And what was the impetus for said attack? Did you refuse to let the little dirtbag pet the Dalmatian?

6

Gah, what dirtbags :mad:

I have a lot of respect for volunteer firemen and ambulance personnel. A lot of the smaller towns that surround the small city I live in would have no fire or EMS coverage if it weren’t for dedicated volunteers (and, actually, there are three volunteer fire departments serving some of the outlying, less populated areas in my town, so that people who live out there don’t have to wait for the paid FD to get there from their downtown HQ.) I can’t imagine the mindset of someone who would intentionally deface and destroy the building used by such brave volunteers, especially in an area where they are totally hosed if the VFD doesn’t help them in an emergency.

A tip of the hat to your late father. The world needs more people who pitch in to help everyone else at great personal risk, and less sneaky dipshits who, apparently, don’t like burn permits. :frowning:

7

My first thought would be to check who’d recently had a burn permit application rejected, or been cited for not having one.

8

And maybe find a friendly police officer who’d check the notes for prints and run a search?

9

I grew up in a small town that was serviced by a VFD, and the part of Charleston I live in now has a VFD as the city fire department is too far off to be first responders. I know how much these folks give up to take their training and become firefighters and ambulance personnel as several of my parent’s friends did one or both jobs. Here’s hoping the gutless shitsuckers get exactly what’s coming to them.

10

And then compare the handwriting on the application to the handwriting on the notes. Criminals aren’t that bright.

11

No one has any idea what might have prompted it. The best guess is boredom. This particular company doesn’t give out permits, you have to go “into town” to get one. We aren’t even an entity that can enforce anything if someone doesn’t have a permit, at least that is my understanding. We can ask for one when we respond to a control burn that got away from the land owner, but we basically just inform the empowered authorities whether or not a permit was produced when we respond.

We do put signs up to remind people of the varying states of fire awareness through the year. Now, for example, no burning at all is allowed, which is how it has been for a month or so. In wetter times of the year when burning is allowed, a permit is always required, which is what the sign that was defaced was for. It was leaning against the wall inside the firehouse.

The requirement to have a permit at all times is relatively new, as an air quality control measure, but it is policy that is dictated by the state, not by our little scrappy band of firefighters. Maybe they were trying to rage against that particular machine.

The sheriff is coming out to take a look around. Because the firehouse is in active use, my Mom couldn’t really treat it like a crime scene, but she did bag up everything she could while wearing rubber gloves. Not sure how/if any finger print collection may or may not be handled in light of that. I somehow doubt they will try much of any forensics, and I wouldn’t necessarily blame them if they didn’t.

Some folks have expressed a desire to donate towards cleanup or just to put some coin in the coffers. This is extremely generous of my fellow Dopers. Unfortunately, the group has no web presence for fund raising, though I’ve been wanting to get one off of the ground for them for some time. Let me confirm the snail mail address with my Mom, and ask the moderators if I can post it.

Alternatively, if any of you happen to find yourself driving through remote Northern California on July 26th, you can stop by the local Mattole Grange for some food, music, and maybe buy a t-shirt at our annual fund-raiser known as “Roll on the Mattole” (a hack on a much larger music festival in the area, Reggae on the River). :wink:

12

shakes head what a douchebag.

13

I smell sitcom!

Seriously, I hope they catch the assholes.

14

I wish I could say something witty and amusing. I can’t. I’m just stuck facing the monumental stupidity involved, when one considers the time, effort, and resources required to man a VFD, of making their jobs harder and less satisfying.

I hope this bozo gets an education.

15

Post what you are allowed to, and I will buy a t-shirt while making a donation. My father is Fire Chief for a VFD (and I go out on calls every time that I visit). I hope you find the perps, and tell your folks thanks for their efforts.

16

This sounds very easy for the local police to clear up. Scads of evidence and the same sixteen suspects who have done this sort of knuckleheaded stunt in the past.

Round up the usual suspects!

Please keep us informed.