Manlius Fire Department locks up its station, bans other village employees after food is stolen.
The Manlius Fire Department has decided to lock its Stickley Drive station, and prohibit any village employee except fire department members from entering the building without an escort.
Manlius Fire Chief Paul Whorrall said the restriction has been prompted by repeated incidents where food and beverages have been stolen from the fire station kitchen.
During the most recent incident, on Sept. 30, an entire prepared lunch of sausage for about five firefighters was taken from the refrigerator when fire personnel left on a fire call.
“We had an officers’ meeting and decided the temporary lockdown will stay until we decide to do something different,” he said.
Whorrall said there’s an implicit trust among firefighters, and that’s why they’ve agreed not to let any village workers in unaccompanied, or to allow them to use their workout facility on the second floor.
Whorrall said it may seem petty, but the fact that the firefighters’ food has been missing repeatedly upsets the members. They discussed installing cameras, but decided to see how the lockdown works.
Whorrall said he filed a police report on the incident, as advised by the police chief. He couldn’t place a dollar value on the missing food.
“You can take their clothes, but don’t take their food,” Whorrall said of the firefighters. “Someone had a good lunch that day. Our people had to start cooking all over and eat lunch about 3 p.m.”
Elizabeth Doran can be reached at edoran@syracuse.com or 470-3012.