Fire officials: Garage at West Point VFD vandalized

Members of the West Point Volunteer Fire Department in Hempfield are searching for three boys who allegedly vandalized a detached garage housing an antique fire truck.

According to a post on the department’s Facebook page, the boys on Saturday broke a glass block window with bricks, entered the building and then left it unlocked. They came back in the middle of the night and hung out until early morning, according to fire officials. Nothing was stolen during the incident.

“Frustrating and sad,” fire President Jessie Webb Zemba said of the situation. “I can’t believe our neighbors would do it, let alone kids. When we got the call, I was more worried about our antique fire truck. I think pretty much everybody was, and thankfully that was not damaged at all. It’s just disheartening.”

The 1937 fire truck, referred to as Ol’ Betsy, has been with the company since they purchased it from Level Green in 1961.

A company is slated to help with cleanup and fix the window this week, Webb Zemba said. A report was filed with state police. The boys were caught on camera.

“If you are the parent or the child/teenager and want to turn yourself in, we won’t press charges if you contact us,” the Facebook post reads. “We do expect them to still pay for the damage and help clean the mess up they made. We definitely didn’t expect this from our neighbors, especially kids.”

Webb Zemba noted that several community members have reached out with information regarding the incident or to help clean up.

“We’re thankful to everybody that’s reached out,” she said.