BELLINGHAM, Wash. — You’ve probably tossed change into a firefighter’s boot to raise money for muscular dystrophy but people in Bellingham may have donated to the wrong boot.
Firefighters there say a man impersonated them and solicited drivers for money using his own boot.
"This happened last weekend; the real "fill the boot" campaign was the weekend before, one intersection north of Meridian Street and Telegraph Road. The real firefighters think there's a pretty good chance this fake firefighter watched them and then tried to recreate the event.
Everybody trusts a firefighter, right? So when they offer a boot, drivers typically respond with a donation. This year “fill the boot” raised $17,500 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. But an unknown amount of money went to an unknown man who took advantage of the trust firefighters like Matt Fawcett work so hard to earn.
“I was leaving my fire station, driving by, saw the gentleman walking up, saw the shirt and painted on the back were the letters “BFD” which I would assume stand for Bellingham Fire Department,” Fawcett told us.
Fawcett said—just like he’d done the weekend before-- this guy was holding a boot and asking for change. Other panhandlers at the busy Bellingham intersection caught the act as well.
“What did his shirt say?” we asked Kenny George, standing at the same corner, holding a piece of cardboard that read “family of three, need help.”
“Fire department. Black shirt,” he told us.
George admits he too asks for money, but his sign tells the truth about his situation. He’s frustrated someone else lied and-- according to Kenny—raked in quite a bit of cash.
Fawcett is frustrated too.
“It’s representing us in perhaps a negative light,” he explained.
He immediately called his supervisor but the faux firefighter fled.
“The battalion chief went out to the corner and as he arrived and saw the guy, the guy ran away.”
Fawcett hopes he didn’t take the public’s trust with him because the real firefighters will be back with their boots next year.
They do their fundraising in groups and they approach with standard issue firefighting boots—not rubber galoshes like they say the imposter had.
According to police the scam-- if it's determined to be theft or fraud-- is a crime.
Cox Media Group
