Post-Irma Celebration Spilled Over Into Florida Firetruck

TAMARAC, FL — Everyone was relieved to see Hurricane Irma blow out of Florida, but one man took the celebration a bit too far. Police said Eric Michael Blaise drank too much and then decided it would be a good idea to take a firetruck for a spin. It really wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Possibly feeling jubilant at having survived Hurricane Irma, Eric Michael Blaise, 32, let alcohol do his thinking last night when he decided to climb into the driver’s seat of a Tamarac Fire Rescue fire truck and attempted to drive it away while the firefighters were busy on a call," explained Gina Carter of Broward Sheriff's Office. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Coral Gables Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

She said that the incident occurred early Thursday as first responders were responding to a medical emergency.

Like the Coral Gables-Coconut Grove Patch on Facebook

"The crew was out before sunrise on a medical call when a Tamarac Fire Rescue lieutenant heard the truck's air brakes release and saw someone in the vehicle," according to Carter. "When Blaise could not figure out how to get the truck into gear, he fled the vehicle on foot."

Unfortunately, Blaise was still wearing one of the rescue vests that firefighters keep on the truck.

"Blaise was positively identified, and the vest was identified as having come from the rescue truck," Carter said. "He was arrested and now faces charges for grand theft of emergency medical equipment and petit theft."

Watch: Hurricane Irma's Destructive Journey By The Numbers

Photo courtesy Broward Sheriff's Office