Do you know where every one of your fire trucks and ambulances is right now? The U.S. Fire Administration's e-newsletter recently included an article called “Emergency Vehicles: Tools for Terrorism?” which said that emergency vehicles were “occasionally reported as stolen or missing throughout the nation.”

According to the article, counter-terrorist experts believe that emergency vehicles could be stolen, rented or purchased by those planning to target critical infrastructure and seriously harm large numbers of people. The use of emergency vehicles as explosive devices occurs frequently overseas. While it hasn't happened yet in the United States, the danger is still there.

When we passed on this interesting information to readers of our Command Post e-newsletter, the response was amazing. Had departments experienced the disappearance of an apparatus or ambulance? Absolutely! Was it recovered? Yes — eventually.

For example, a 50-year-old nursing home patient stole an ambulance in Plainview, Texas, a few weeks ago, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It seems the ambulance had been left running and unattended outside the nursing home. While this is standard procedure according to the owner of the ambulance company, it should have been locked.

Chief Richard Williams of the Gainesville (Fla.) Fire Department believes there's a reason to be concerned about 20- to 30-ton trucks left running unattended in the street. If a disaster or accident were to occur, fire departments would be in for some hard questions. Consequently, Williams said his department is preparing “to experiment with a $700 device to protect our investment and future.” At .05% of the cost of his least-expensive vehicle, it's worth the money.

A degree of concern for all agencies is justified and rightly so. Chief Zina McGuire of the Wild Horse Volunteer Fire Department, Pie Town, N.M., believes remote volunteer fire departments are more likely candidates to have a fire truck stolen but adds, “Our equipment should be pretty easy to recognize — old, old, and older.”

The owner of an auto parts store in Long Island, N.Y., wrote that his hamlet has one main firehouse and two sub-stations. He's concerned that if the sub-stations aren't visited every day, a missing vehicle would not be discovered for some time. That's exactly what happened to a small northern Vermont fire department, which didn't know it had lost an apparatus until another town found the rig and contacted the fire department.

I also heard from a sergeant from one of the largest police departments in the country that's responsible for more than 100 vehicles. He admits he has “no idea where all my vehicles are because they're parked in the street, usually blocks away.” He added that at the central repair shop, some 1,500 marked police cars sit in the road, and at the fire department repair facility there are “maybe 250 fire vehicles waiting to be serviced, once again sitting in the street.” He explained that volunteer ambulances only operate on weekends, and they too sit on the street. “If someone takes a fire truck from some rural town, someone will notice, but we won't know here until after it blows up.”

Similar security precautions should apply to fire stations and equipment. Frequently, due to staffing or culture, fire stations are left unlocked or with the bay doors open after a fire truck leaves the station. Anyone could wander in and remove turnout gear or other equipment. Command cars are also a problem, as they're small and less likely to be viewed as out of place by bystanders.

Look around your station and think like a terrorist. If you sell a rig or ambulance, what background checks are done on the purchaser? Consider vehicle-tracking systems or other locking devices for unattended or attended vehicles. There will be a first time in this country when a fire truck or ambulance is used as a weapon. You don't want to have to tell reporters it was your department's vehicle.