U.S. Park Rangers are looking for suspects after thousands of dollars of wildland firefighting equipment was stolen from storage units in the Valles Caldera National Preserve last weekend.
The equipment, including a utility vehicle, equipment trailer, drop torches, fuel cans, generators, compressors and others tools, was taken sometime last Saturday night or Sunday morning.
All of the gear belonged to wildland fire crews working for the National Park Service. It was being used by firefighters working the Big Hat Fire in the national preserve and was also used recently during the Dog Head Fire in the Manzano Mountains and other fires throughout New Mexico and Arizona.
"The loss of this equipment will adversely impact interagency firefighting operations in northern New Mexico for the rest of the year," the National Park Service said in a news release about the thefts.
The NPS is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any of the suspects.