Thousands of dollars of equipment stolen from firefighters car

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Merced County firefighter is turning to the community for help after all his gear was stolen from his car.

The paid for call fireman says he keeps his gear in his personal car and that someone managed to gain access to his car key signal, and unlock his trunk.

Thousands of dollars worth of firefighter gear gone. A Merced County firefighter posted pictures of the missing gear online after they were stolen from his car.

Trent Dover is a paid call firefighter and keeps his gear in his car to be ready at a moment's notice.

He was staying at his girlfriend's house near Bancroft and Noble in Merced a week ago when she noticed his trunk was open when she came home. The next morning, Dover saw the gear in the back of his trunk was missing.

Being a paid call firefighter, Dover responds to incidents, like car crashes and hazmat situations, in his own car.

Without the gear, he can't do his job.

"I wasn't able to respond to a wreck that morning. I got a wreck at 5 that morning. I went out there and they noticed that I didn't have anything and I couldn't respond to that," Dover said.

Merced County Division Chief, Mark Lawson says they've already notified the terrorism liaison officer about the stolen uniform.

Chief Lawson said, "We're worried about someone obtaining that gear and impersonating a professional firefighter or peace officer. So we're very concerned about that."

He says they've had around half a dozen incidents this year involving stolen equipment and that's anywhere from 18 to 20,000 dollars worth of gear.

The money to buy a new uniform come out of the fire department's operating budget they would normally use to replace old gear.

Dover has a new uniform, but he's hoping someone will return the one that was stolen.

Dover did file a police report. He asks if anyone sees the uniform, or knows who did it, to please call Merced police.