By Karen Hall

Editor

A fire truck stolen here Sunday morning was found in Mississippi later the same day, and as the Tribune went to press Wednesday, it was on its way back to Marshall County.

"I've seen a lot of things in my career as a law-enforcement officer, but this one pretty much tops it all: to steal a fire truck for love and drive it four and a half hours," exclaimed Cornersville Police Sgt. David McVey.

He explained that Phillip Higgs, 22, walked to the South Marshall Volunteer Fire Department's fire hall about 9 a.m. May 19, broke in, and drove off with the Ford F550 brush truck that the SMVFD got new in November 2011.

Higgs allegedly decided he needed a vehicle to go to Mississippi to see his girlfriend, and their baby, and since his car had been wrecked, he took the fire truck, McVey said. Higgs and the young woman and child were reportedly living together in the Cornersville area, but she took the child and went to Mississippi.

Fire trucks are left full of fuel and with the keys in the ignition, ready to go out on call, so in that way, McVey said, they are a good choice for theft.

About 2 p.m. the same day, Higgs' father called the police and told them his son was possibly en route to Horn Lake, Miss. in a stolen fire truck.

McVey drove out to the fire hall, he said, saw the bay door open, and called SMVFD Fire Chief Phil Dyer to ask if he knew where his fire truck was.

After Dyer confirmed the truck was not out on a call, McVey issued Be On the Look Out notices to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and police and sheriffs' deapartments between here and Mississippi.

The truck was found about 5 p.m. in DeSoto County, Miss. and Higgs was arrested in Olive Branch a short time later.

Local law enforcement processed the truck for prints, and detectives in Olive Branch interviewed Higgs.

"He admitted it," McVey reported. "He was very apologetic, and said he was not in his right mind."

Higgs is being held for extradition on a fugitive-from-justice warrant, McVey said. Once he is brought back here, he will be charged with burglary and auto theft, and McVey expects Higgs' bond to be set at about $65,000.

Higgs was not, and never has been, a member of SMVFD, said Town Administrator Taylor Brandon.

The truck is worth over $100,000, most of which was paid by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. It can spray foam, as well as water, and is equipped with a 300-gallon water tank and two sets of hoses. The truck can also draw water from a pond, creek or portable reservoir, and has four-wheel drive. It came from Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc. in Holden, La.

Emergency Management Agency Director Bob Hopkins went with Dyer Wednesday to bring the truck back. This is Hopkins' second drive back to Marshall County in this truck: he went with Assistant Chief Eva Williams to pick up the truck in Louisiana when it was new less than two years ago.