Volunteers at the Burnside Scouts are frustrated after thieves stripped and damaged two outdoor heat pumps at their hall over the weekend, causing up to $10,000 worth of damage.
Gordon Scout Hall Group Leader Martin Riddler told chrislynchmedia.com the offenders broke in during the early hours of Saturday morning and appeared to be on-site for nearly two hours.
“They removed the cage around the heat pumps, cut through the copper pipes, and dismantled the units,” he said.
“They’ve taken parts from inside the heat pumps, probably for a small amount of scrap metal – maybe $10 or $20 worth – but it’s caused thousands of dollars in damage.”
The Scout hall is a standalone facility next to the Burnside Cricket Club. Someone from the cricket club spotted the damage on Sunday morning and sent a photo to the Scouts.
“They messaged us saying, ‘heads up, this is what’s happened,’ and that’s how we found out. We’re just really disappointed. It’s senseless,” Riddler said.
“The first action we had to do was to electricity isolate the units, as we tested them and they were still live, we didn’t want a child playing with them and getting electrocuted.”
While the building is fitted with security cameras, Riddler said the system doesn’t cover the rear of the property where the heat pumps were located.
“We’ve got cameras on the front and sides, and the cricket club next door has some too. But there’s no coverage around the back where these heat pumps are. That’s where they struck.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse, with colder months approaching.
“These heat pumps are our only heat source,” he said. “It gets pretty cold in there over winter, especially for the younger kids. We’ll have to tell people coming in for training courses to bring jackets.”
The incident has caused major disruption for the Burnside Scout Group, which is used by at least six groups each week, including three guide groups and three Scout sections.
“The hall is busy every evening,” Riddler said. “There are groups coming in all the time — it’s a community facility, and we even hire it out for other events. It’s not just Scouts that are affected.”
“All of our leaders are volunteers. We already give up a lot of time to keep things running, and now we have to deal with this on top of everything else. It’s frustrating.”
Riddler said police have been informed, but there has been no follow-up so far.
“We understand they’re busy, especially if this sort of thing is happening elsewhere across the city,” he said.
He said the whole situation felt disheartening, especially given how little the thieves would have gained from the stolen materials.
“For what? A few dollars’ worth of metal? It just doesn’t make sense when it leaves us with a huge repair bill and no heating.”
Despite the setback, he’s holding on to hope that someone in the community might be willing to step in and help.
“You never know — maybe a good Samaritan out there can help us replace what’s been lost. It would make a huge difference.”
