QUILCENE — U.S. Forest Service investigators continued to look Wednesday for the person who stole an 1,800-gallon collapsible water tank from the site of the Cabin Creek Fire in Olympic National Forest on Sunday.
Whoever the culprit is, he or she has a tub that can hold 240 cubic feet of water. That’s a volume larger than 6.2 feet by 6.2 feet by 6.2 feet.
“It’s hard to believe,” said District Ranger Dean Yoshina.
Without the tank, firefighting efforts were curtailed, and the blaze southwest of Quilcene grew to 10 acres, according to Rita Chandler, fire staff officer, on Tuesday.
“Firefighters had to work hard to regain control of the fire,” she said in an email.
Yoshina said it was unthinkable someone would carry off a resource that was being used to protect the forest and the public.
The thief also made off with hose and fittings.
Joe Nole, Jefferson County undersheriff, said Wednesday his department hadn’t received any leads about the theft, despite the size of the tank.
Sometimes called an “onion tank” or a “pumpkin,” the fabric tub is valued at $2,100.
