Volunteer firefighters in the tiny B.C. community of East Gate are at a loss this week after one of their two fire trucks was stolen over the weekend.

The truck was stolen either Saturday night or early Sunday morning from an access road near East Gate, which is located near Princeton, according to Tom Rushworth, a member of the East Gate Fire Protection Society.

"It's left a huge hole," Rushworth told ctvbc.ca. "I don't know what we're going to do."

The truck, a white 1997 Ford F-350 flat bed with a 500-gallon plastic water tank and aluminum bins full of equipment, was used as a "rapid attack" truck to get to fires quickly in out-of-the-way places.

The community has another city-style fire truck, Rushworth said, but it's too long to handle many inclines in the largely hillside community.

"Yes we have other vehicles that can carry water, but nothing that can get where this one did."

The truck was paid for through community fundraising, volunteer donations and grants from the BC Lottery Corporation, and all of the custom work was done by volunteers.

Rushworth estimated that the truck alone would cost about $30,000 to replace -- all of the firefighting equipment on board would be extra.

Rushworth said that firefighters were out searching the area for any signs of the stolen truck on Tuesday.

"We're hoping that we can find the truck and they've just taken some of the gear," he said.

The theft comes as B.C. faces a particularly dry summer after a winter with very low snowfall.

Rushworth said that while the fire risk is not extreme near East Gate at the moment, it's expected to shoot up as the season progresses.

"We're in pine forest and all the pine is dead from the beetle -- it makes great fuel."

Already this year, the stolen truck has been used to contain a grass fire ignited after a planned burn got out of control.

Rushworth said the community depends on the stolen truck to put out small car fires on the Trans Canada Highway, which could ignite twigs and branches and send a blaze surging up the hillside to homes above.

"It would just go up like gangbusters," Rushworth said.

Sgt. Dave Clare of the Princeton RCMP said that he's surprised the truck hasn't been found yet.

"It is a unique vehicle," he said. "I can't imagine that someone stole this vehicle to chop it up. We're thinking that someone just stole it for a joy ride."

Anyone with information about the stolen truck should call Princeton RCMP at 250-295-6911. The vehicle's licence plate number is 4060JF, and the truck's cab reads East Gate Fire Department.