Gas tanks drilled, fuel stolen in a series of similar incidents around Gig Harbor
A series of gas tank drillings have been reported in Gig Harbor over the last several months, leaving fuel tanks drained and owners dismayed.
Police say the incidents happen when an individual crawls under the vehicle and uses an electric drill to puncture the gas tank and steal the gas inside. Gig Harbor police confirmed there was an incident on Jan. 9 at 4340 Borgen Blvd. and one on Jan. 14 at Gig Harbor Park-and-Ride at 6808 Kimball Dr.
The Gateway found two additional incidents: one on Dec. 1 in the 14400 block of Purdy Drive in unincorporated Gig Harbor Sept. 27, and again at the Gig Harbor Park-and-Ride on Kimball Drive. There also was a separate report on Jan. 28 of a gasoline spill in the 3300 block of Harborview Drive that left behind “an estimated five gallons of fuel.”
“We have no leads and not enough consistent events to identify a pattern,” in the incidents, Police Chief Kelly Busey said in an email. He said the department does not have enough evidence to consider the events connected.
“We get a couple of these a year on average,” Busey said in an interview. “It kind of goes in cycles, as though there is a particular group of people that either passes through our town or decide that is their crime du jour.”
“Our sample size is so small on this that there is no identifiable pattern or anything like that,” Busey said.
The last incident, in particular, was unlikely to be related, he said. In that incident on Harborview Drive, a car was seen driving away from a pool of gas.
Busey “it appears unlikely” this was a related drilling crime “as the gas would likely have been drained at the site where the drilling occurred.”
Watch where you park
Busey did offer some best practices to decrease the risk for vehicle owners.
“All I can say is, choose to park your car in less isolated areas, if possible. Try not to leave your car parked in a public lot overnight, if possible,” Busey said. “But really it is hard to defend from that. I mean, we all need to park and leave our cars at some point.”
In the event that your car’s gas tank is drilled, Busey said that he recommends calling police to report the theft and avoiding driving away.
“They’re probably not going to be able to drive far, right? So I would certainly call 911 before moving their car and making sure there are no sources of ignition around there,” Busey said. “Let us come there, take a look around, look for surveillance cameras, things like that. Let the fire department maybe come and deem it safe or help mitigate the spill of gasoline.”
The car would then have to be towed to a repair shop as the gas tank will need to be replaced.
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 5:26 PM.
