SALT LAKE CITY — A loyal University of Utah fan had the joy of a Utes victory over Oregon vanish when he found all his firefighter gear was stolen from his car while at the game.
UFA firefighter Barrett Lajeunesse works out of the Holladay station, but lives in Utah County, so he had his gear in the car to be ready for duty Sunday morning.
“It’s been a fantastic job, I love every minute of it ... something different every day, and we get to serve the public, it’s amazing,” said Lajeunesse of his firefighter duties.
But his heart sank when he returned home late Saturday and found his car's backseat empty.
“I get to my house and I looked in the back of my vehicle and I realized that all of my fire fighter gear is gone. I was supposed to change stations this coming shift, which I am on right now, and I just look in the back and two large duffel bags, full of about $10,000 worth of gear gone," Lajeunesse said.
The department is going to replace most of what was taken, but things like uniforms Lajeunesse will have to pay for himself, and some personal items were taken that were priceless to him.
So Lajeunesse has a message for whomever stole the items.
“Obviously it has the name of the department, it has my name, there’s not many like it, so just leave it at a fire house, you don’t even have to talk to anybody, just drop those bags off and it would be an immense help for me.”
