KEY POINTS:
Thieves have broken into an Auckland fire station and stolen $80,000 worth of lifesaving equipment from the back of a truck while firefighters slept metres away.
A thermal imaging camera and rescue equipment, including the "jaws of life", were taken from the appliance at the Mt Wellington station early on Wednesday, February 4.
"We believe it was some time between midnight and three o'clock in the morning [while] the crew were asleep in the bedrooms," Auckland City fire area manager Brian Edwards said.
"We are racking our brains to think what people would want it for ... It isn't the type of thing that people would have great use for."
Mr Edwards said the thermal imaging camera, worth around $35,000, was used during scrub fires to locate hotspots, and to help find people who could be trapped in burning buildings.
The hydraulic rescue equipment - which was mounted on a trolley that moves the gear around at scenes - is used to free people who are trapped in car wrecks.
Mr Edwards said it was lucky the crew had not been called out to an accident or house fire after the theft as they probably would not have noticed the gear missing until it was needed at the scene.
"It's a situation that people probably haven't thought through the consequences ... They may have been the ones that [later] needed help. They put people's lives at risk."
Once the gear was missed the next morning, staff had to borrow equipment from a training fire truck until replacements could be organised.
"It's not something that you can just walk into a shop and buy."
Mr Edwards said the stolen gear was quite heavy so he suspected more than one person was involved.
"It seemed the people had a pretty good idea of what they were looking for by the looks of it.
"It's not something you would move around on your own, so we would expect there were at least a couple of people if not more."
Mr Edwards said most people would know about the kind of gear carried on fire engines as it was often on display at scenes and promotional days.
"That, combined with the fact the gear couldn't be locked away in lockers at night, meant the Fire Service was probably slightly vulnerable, although it had never been targeted like this before.
"We have had the odd burglary like I suppose everybody does ... but I'm not aware of us ever having equipment stolen off a fire engine like that before.
"It is a situation that we hoped we wouldn't have to get to ... hopefully it's a one off."
Fire stations are locked up at night. It is believed the thieves broke in through a window and fled out the front door. Anyone with information on the thefts is asked to contact Mt Wellington police.
