Six days ago, Connor Callaghan and his 20-person BC Wildfire Service crew got the call. They'd drive immediately to Penticton to battle the brand new Christie Mountain wildfire.
Three days later and after a trio of demanding 12-hour shifts saving homes in the Heritage Hills development south of Penticton, Callaghan would return over the Coquihalla Connector to his base in Merritt. And at 10 a.m. Friday morning, he stood in the parking lot looking for his personal truck.
He couldn’t find it. He hasn’t seen it since.
But he has seen the security camera footage.
"I got a ride back to Merritt and the base about 10 on Friday morning," says the 24-year-old UBC Okanagan Mechanical Engineering student and Kelowna resident. "I was really tired, and I just couldn't remember where I parked my truck. But it just wasn't there."
"So I went and told the office guys. We looked at the footage and sure enough around 2:30 a.m. on Friday morning, not long before I got back, we saw someone pull up in a white sedan. They stopped by my truck for 20 minutes, and then both of them pulled out."
It seems like a particularly cruel fate for a guy to help save Penticton from its worst brush with wildfire in recent memory, only to have his truck stolen. But it gets worse.
Along with the vehicle, a 2003 Toyota Tundra with admittedly "really high mileage," the thieves also made off with Callaghan's school bag and contents, a laptop, some camping gear and assorted clothing, and a pretty special blanket.
Not only was it the blanket Callaghan slept under as he lived part-time out of his truck this summer while shuttling between Kelowna and Merritt, it also belonged to his granddad before him.
Gary Schreider was his name. Schreider played for several Canadian Football League teams in the 50s and 60s and was once an All-Star. And the blanket recognized his inclusion in the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.
"They went straight to my truck," says Callaghan of the theft. "So we were kind of thinking they must have scouted it in advance. It didn’t have any security measures, so it probably wasn't that hard to steal."
Callaghan called the RCMP right away, but there's little to go on so far other than a notification that his iPad was since activated in Mission, BC. The vehicle is insured, but Callaghan is thus far unsure if the contents were also covered.
Police are on the lookout for a 2003 navy blue Toyota Tundra fitted with a canopy and a bike rack on the back. The plate number is JY3 181. Readers who spot the vehicle can contact the RCMP.
During his three days in Penticton, Callaghan, who's part of the Merritt Fire Devils "Unit Crew," fought the fiercest days of the blaze up close and personal. On foot, he and his colleagues established control lines, suppressed the fire with water, and ignited prescribed burns. Now he just wants his truck -- and his stuff -- back.
His sisters have already started a GoFundMe page for Callaghan that's quickly surpassed its $5,000 fundraising goal.
Our thanks to reader Audrey Abbey, a good friend of Callaghan's mom, who read one of PentictonNow's wildfire stories this weekend and alerted us to the incident.
