Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170556
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

NORFOLK FIRE STATIONS BURGLARIZED

The burglaries occurred Friday and Monday, arson investigator John Koenig said.

The stations were locked while the seven or eight firefighters on each shift were out. When they returned, they found a thief had entered through a broken window, said Investigator Larry Jackson.

The first burglary occurred Friday at Station 11. At 4:40 a.m., firefighters were called to a house fire a half-mile away.

While they were out, someone broke a kitchen window and took a 23-inch TV and a VCR out a back door.

The second burglary occurred Monday at 4 a.m. as firefighters from Station 8 responded to a blaze.

Firefighters were at the scene for about two hours. While there, a driver realized that the fire was similar to the one three days earlier, said firefighter Mike Winstead.

"Something clicked in his mind," Winstead said. So firefighters called police, and an officer checked the station. He found a broken window and what appeared to be blood stains.

A 25-inch TV set worth $450 was gone.

"We'd just made two payments on the thing," Winstead said. Norfolk firefighters pool their money to buy furniture and TVs.

"You respond to a fire and lock up behind you," he said. "You just don't think that something like this is going to happen."

It was the second break-in at Station 11 recently. On March 13, a man broke in and was discovered when firefighters returned. Nothing was stolen. That man was not considered a suspect in Monday's burglary, Jackson said.

Since all firefighters are needed during fires, no one is left behind in the stations. "Besides," Winstead said, "would you want to stay here alone?"