Firefighter's Truck Stolen As He Battled Fort Gibson House Fire

A Green Country firefighter is fired up. The firefighter was the victim of a thief while he was out risking his safety on a house fire.

When Virgil Walters got in his pickup and headed to the Ft. Gibson fire station for a house fire call, it was like most other calls he's had during 16 years as a volunteer.

He immediately went to work, to make a difference.

"When you're in a hurry, you jump out, you get in a truck and you take off," Walters said.

Walters and others put out a fire at a vacant house. What makes this call different is what happened when Walters returned to the fire station. His pickup was gone.

"This is sitting at the fire department, there are fire stickers in the window, and they know I'm a fireman. You can almost see the fire from the station where it was at. And for them to just take my truck it ain't right," he said.

Walters has always left his keys in his truck thinking the fire station is pretty secure, especially since it's right next door to the police station. A thief took advantage of that.

"It makes me mad. We've got 20 guys here putting their life on the line every time we go out, and for somebody to mess with us like that it just ain't right," Walters said.

Walters' truck was found about a day later, 26 miles away. The thief drove it until it was out of gas.

Walters says the next time he's called out to fight a house fire or some other call, he'll keep his keys and his truck will be locked.

"I don't like a thief," he said.

His pager and keys were stolen, along with some of his trust.

"It's a shame that we have people in the world like this," firefighter Virgil Walters said.

Even though Walters got his truck back, this whole thing has been frustrating, and it's been expensive. Since the thief took his keys, he now has to replace all the locks on his house.