KING COUNTY, Wash. — A utility crew from central Washington had one of its truck's broken into while helping restore people's power from the bomb cyclone. They're now out thousands of dollars.
It's been a down week for western Washington. Downed trees, downed power lines and for this utility crew they've been down on their luck.
“The first night we were here we had some issues getting a hotel room, we did in fact sleep in the truck," said Rob Peart, Palouse Power general foreman.
It was a rough start for Peart and his workers, who came all the way from Grant County to help Puget Sound Energy address the impacts of the bomb cyclone.
His crew came out from dinner Thursday night to find one of their utility truck's windows smashed in the parking lot. Everything inside was stolen, including one worker's clothes.
"Rain gear which we use every day, right day to his underwear,” Peart said. “Missing from the truck: tooling, light plants we're doing night work, Milwaukee tools, batteries, pretty much everything out of the cab of the truck was taken."
It was a huge blow, costing thousands of dollars in repairs and losses.
"It puts delays in everything as soon as you get a hiccup like that it does delay the job," Peart said.
A frustrating ordeal Peart has dealt with before.
"I've been in this trade for 32 years," Peart said. "I've seen our yards get broken into. I've seen the whole pickup stolen at one point in time - everything in it."
The truck's windows have since been replaced and the worker has a new set of clothes. As Peart and his crew continue the job, he shares a message for the thieves.
"Get a job," Peart said. "As hard as you're working at ripping things off maybe you could use that in productive ways and be a productive member of society."