COLD HEARTED

A Berwick woman felt ‘sick to her stomach’ after discovering thieves stole a large quantity of furnace oil from her home.

A Berwick woman says she has gone through several emotions after discovering that thieves made off with about $700 worth of oil from her home last weekend.

“I felt sick to my stomach,” Alexandra Chapman said.

“I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. I was so angry.”

Chapman woke up the morning of Jan. 21 and headed to her daughter’s house for a visit that afternoon. She didn’t turn up the furnace before leaving, as she keeps the house relatively cool. When she returned home it was colder, though, and when the furnace didn’t kick in she discovered her tank had been drained.

Sled tracks and footprints were outside her home. The tracks led from the outside basement entrance to the road in front of her South Street house, and then to the parallel rail trail, where railway tracks used to run from Halifax to Yarmouth.

Footprints from at least two people were around the fill pipes and the basement door, and Chapman isn’t sure whether the thieves went into the basement — which doesn’t have access to the rest of the house — and drained the tank there, or pumped it dry from the outside.

As near as she can figure, the theft happened in the early morning hours of Saturday, after her neighbours went to sleep.

Chapman was sleeping on the couch downstairs and heard an ATV motor stop from the direction of the trail shortly after 2 a.m., but she thought it was people from next door so didn’t look outside.

The tracks lead toward Waterville, said Chapman’s daughter, Jessica.

They presume the oil was put into several large jerry cans on a sled, which was pulled to the tracks and the waiting ATV. The tracks cut deep paths in the snow.

But the cold times didn’t end there.

“We put 40 litres in the tank to try to get the furnace to work, but it wouldn’t stay ignited,” Jessica said.

They drained 17 litres of water out of the tank and wonder if the thieves purposely dumped that in.

The furnace wouldn’t keep working, so that required a service call of more than $200 while Chapman tried to keep the house warm with a single space heater until Thursday. Online support helped raise enough money for another half a tank of oil.

Jessica said she has heard of two other cases of stolen furnace oil in the area. Chapman said that when she called the oil company, the representative told her that thefts had been happening quite often in and around the town.

Chapman, who is off work due to a disability, now has locks and a camera to try to ward off thieves, should they try to come back. But she said she feels unsafe in her home.

“I don’t even feel comfortable watching TV because I feel like somebody’s out there looking in my windows,” she said.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Chris Marshall said that since Jan. 1, police have been called to two homes in Berwick, including Chapman’s, for oil theft complaints. The other was on Main Street, where an estimated 400 litres was taken.

They were also called to the Berwick industrial park, which is at the end of Chapman’s road and also along the old rail line, where someone punctured tanks on three vehicles to get fuel and also stole catalytic converters and wheels off vehicles.

Mashal said homeowners should check with their oil companies about the best options for securing their fuel. People should be aware of anything that seems suspicious around their homes or those of their neighbours and call police if they notice something.

Anyone with information is asked to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.