They said gas has been siphoned in recent months from parked cars, trucks and boats in the area.
"If they leave a vehicle on the lot with any amount of fuel in it, it's susceptible to being siphoned," Cathedral City Fire Chief Mike Hatfield said. "With gas prices going up, the economy being what it is with the mortgage crisis, the conditions are ripe for that."
Fire officials suspect gas siphoners are behind an explosion that destroyed three U-Haul trucks on a lot in Cathedral City, California.
The explosion, reported at about 1 p.m., caused $120,000 in damage, destroying four trucks and charring a nearby storage facility, Hatfield said.
Firefighters inspecting the lot found what Hatfield called the "tell-tale signs of gas siphoning": short, cut-off garden hoses stuck in the gas tanks of three trucks, and the gas caps removed from six other trucks. All of the trucks had been emptied of gas.
Siphoners stick one end of the hose in a gas tank, then suck on the other end "like a straw" until the gas rises, Hatfield said.
"It looks like somebody had siphoned some fuel, got what they wanted, left the hose lying there and the gas just continued to siphon," onto the ground, Hatfield said.
Fire officials have yet to determine exactly what ignited the explosion, but those responsible probably suffered severe burns, he said.
Fire Capt. Eric Hauser says that the tanks of many surrounding trucks were "bone dry," And a black rubber hose was found near the trucks.
Hauser says investigators "don't know if it was carelessness, or someone was smoking, or it was intentional."
Hauser says he believes the perpetrators must have been badly burned, but no burn victims have appeared at local hospitals and no one has been arrested.
"The higher the fuel price goes up, the more people steal it," Odell said. "You come in in the morning and go to run a truck out to a customer and the fuel tank will be empty. They'll either siphon it or go under the truck and cut the rubber hose" leading to the fuel tank.
Author: Jo Amey
