Fire department’s historic bell is battered but back home

The Pleasantville Fire Department is trying to look on the bright side now that its missing historic copper and tin bell has been found and returned.

Yes, the thief went at it hard with an angle grinder, presumably to sell for scrap, but Battalion Chief Eric Moran said the bell’s scars and cuts will just become a part of its history.

“That worked out for the Liberty Bell,” he told the Inquirer on Tuesday morning.

The heavy bell, forged in Ohio in 1909, was being stored behind the fire department in the Atlantic County town while a new stand was being built. Firefighters realized it was missing last week. A Facebook post about the disappearing bell was shared more than 13,000 times.

Moran said numerous tips came in about the bell, and one of them led investigators to a home in Pleasantville. The bell, he said, was covered in the side yard of a home.

“It’s not in the condition we would have liked. There’s lots of scratches and it’s cut in three pieces,” he said. “They were in the process of breaking it down.”

Moran didn’t know whether charges were filed in the bell’s disappearance, and detectives with the Pleasantville police department did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday. Last week, Moran said he was more concerned with the bell’s return than criminal charges.

“Now we’re looking to do some repairs and move forward with the memorial,” he said. “Now it has a different story to it, something unique.”