KENOSHA -- Firefighters in Kenosha are working to remove gasoline spilled into a retention pond after a stolen SUV was pulled from the water there Thursday morning.
Battalion Chief Matthew Haerter, of the Kenosha Fire Department, said a delivery driver spotted the vehicle almost fully submerged in the pond just after 5:30 a.m.
The retention pond, near 77th and Green Bay Road, is on the property of a Meijer store.
"Only the roof of the vehicle was visible," Haerter said. "We immediately began an operation around the vehicle with surface rescue suits and our fire department. While that was going on, we got divers ready to go into the water to ascertain whether anyone was inside the vehicle or around it."
Two divers from Lake County, Illinois, also assisted in the search.
Haerter said the vehicle was reported stolen Wednesday evening.
With the pond cleared, the case has now been turned over to the Kenosha Police Department.
Haerter said investigators will review security footage from the Meijer store in an effort to piece together who stole the car and how it ended up in the water.
A "fairly significant" amount of fuel was spilled into the pond, Haerter said.
He said special absorbent tubes have been placed into the water to soak up the gasoline. He hopes that happens before it rains and the water level rises, which would cause the fuel to seep out into other waterways.
"The water level is relatively below the area where it would escape from the pond," he said. "We're fortunate because the water isn't flowing out of the pond. If it was actively flowing, we wouldn't be able to get it quick enough to prevent it from going out. But with something like this, where it's a foot below the exit point, we have until it rains."
