By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Narre Warren CFA has been rocked by a recent theft and suspicious fence fire at their brigade station.
A volunteer member, who had parked his tool-laden trailer out the back after doing landscaping jobs at the station, was the chief victim.
Landscaping equipment and tools worth nearly $6000 were stolen from his padlocked trailer late in the night of 25 July.
The tools were believed to have been placed in two wheelie bins and rolled out of the station south on Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road.
The theft was discovered by brigade members when they were called to a fence fire at the station at 1.50am on 26 July.
“It’s unfortunate that’s the world we live in today,” the brigade’s captain Paul Hardy said.
He reeled off several recent intrusions into the station’s yard – car burnouts, syringes, kids on bikes hanging around at night.
“We’ve had CCTV here for about three years. People don’t seem to care.”
Mr Hardy said the slow-burning fire had just started to take in nearby vegetation and threatened to spread to adjoining properties.
A section of the fence was significantly damaged.
He said it was not known if the fire and the theft were related.
The brigade has released CCTV footage of an intruder walking towards the trailer about 11pm on 25 July.
Any information to Narre Warren police station on 9705 3111 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
