Authorities seeking wildfire equipment stolen from New Mexico Forestry Division
Jun. 27—New Mexico State Police is asking for the public's help in recovering wildfire equipment worth $180,000 that was stolen earlier this month from the state Forestry Division.
The thefts occurred as several wildfires burned thousands of acres in the southern part of the state.
"The loss of this equipment absolutely made things worse for firefighters and responders on incidents this week and the week before," said George Ducker, spokesman for the division. "We spent a lot of time sourcing, purchasing and building the equipment ourselves."
The stolen equipment includes two white utility box trailers, a red Kubota tractor, a black open utility trailer and a Camp-In-A-Box, which contains necessary equipment for setting up overnight camps during wildland fires, the department said.
State Police said the thefts occurred on June 7 and 8, when security footage captured a Black Chevrolet Tahoe accessing the Forest Division depot on Richards Avenue in Santa Fe on three separate occasions. The facility's gates were locked and no personnel were on site at the time.
The Forestry Division has been working with State Police to recover the equipment, but the division has no leads at this time.
In the past month, New Mexico has experienced multiple wildfires, including two that torched over 100,000 acres in and around the Gila National Forest and the Desert Willow Complex Fire that burned 10 homes and injured several firefighters in Los Lunas.
Of the items stolen, the Camp-In-A-Box, would have been the most helpful to have during the wildfires, Ducker said, and "certainly would have been used in the last week."
"I don't know what goes through the minds of folks who want to steal this kind of equipment," Ducker said. "Whoever did this clearly doesn't care about who they impact, and they don't care about the downstream effects of something like this."
State Police spokesperson Amanda Richards said that while the investigation is ongoing, authorities are asking the public to provide any information that could help.
"Investigations are complex and they take time... but at this point it doesn't hurt to ask the public for their help," Richards said.
Anyone with information regarding the theft is encouraged to contact State Police officer Edward Quintana at 505-425-6771.
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