Firefighter has recovered beloved truck stolen during Christie Mountain wildfire

Police have found a firefighter's truck after it was stolen while he battled the Christie Mountain wildfire near Penticton last week.

Connor Callaghan said the truck, which has been in his family for 17 years, was stolen Aug. 21.

“The police phoned me yesterday morning (Aug. 27) saying they’d recovered the vehicle," Callaghan said. "They’d found someone driving the vehicle, so they are apparently carrying out their own investigation on it.”

The stolen vehicle was found in Kamloops, he said.

Callaghan was deployed by the B.C. Wildfire Service to fight the Christie Mountain fire and was among dozens to leave his vehicle in a Merritt parking lot, where his navy blue 2003 Toyota Tundra was taken.

It was more than just a vehicle for the Kelowna University student.

"This truck had been his home the past two summers while he fought wildfires in B.C. and Alberta. All of his belongings were in it including his camping gear, laptop, iPad and school bag that he needed for his last year of university starting in September," a GoFundMe set up by Connor's siblings Sarah and Gillian Callaghan stated. The campaign has raised $10,432 so far.

Callaghan said he doesn't know if his belongings were recovered along with the vehicle. In videos sent to him by police showing the suspect driving his truck, Callaghan said it looks like there's pretty much nothing left inside the vehicle.

"I don’t have any further news on that, it’s kind of a waiting game," he said.

— This story was updated at 11:02 a.m. Aug. 28, 2020 to add comment from Connor Callaghan.

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