A Florida Fire Chief Allowed a Woman to Spend the Night in the Station. Then, She Stole a Fire Truck and Impersonated a Firefighter, Officials Say.

A Florida woman is accused of stealing a fire truck after she spent the night in a fire station, authorities said.

According to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the the Wellborn Volunteer Fire Department after receiving a report about a stolen fire truck.

At the scene, Patrol Division Deputy Larson Zimmermann spoke with the volunteer fire department chief.

According to the sheriff’s office, the fire chief told Zimmerman that he allowed the 44-year-old suspect, Belinda Delores Waugh, of Wellborn, “to spend the night at the fire station the night before.”

When the fire chief returned to the fire department the following afternoon because of a call, both Waugh and a fire truck were missing, according to authorities.

“While on the scene, Belinda called the volunteer fire chief and told him she had run out of gas and was at a business in Live Oak,” the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies went to the business and located both the missing truck and Waugh, who the sheriff’s office said, “claimed she was a volunteer firefighter with Suwannee County.”

The Suwannee County Fire Rescue administration denied the claim and she was never authorized to operate the fire truck,” the sheriff said.

The truck’s keys were found in a cup in the cab and Waugh was arrested and booked into the Suwannee County jail on charges of grand theft as well as fraud – impersonating a firefighter.