Remember in the Grand Theft Auto video games how you can steal a fire truck and just go for a joyride? I wonder what that would be like in real life…(insert harp flashback music here)

WINNIPEG (The Sun) — A joyride that lasted a few minutes could put a purloined pumper out of service for up to a year while custom-built parts are made and the truck repaired, officials say.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service platoon chief Terry Gardiner said the cab of the new fire engine, which had been in service for a week, may have to be replaced because it was severely damaged in a crash yesterday.

“The firefighters have been waiting for this machinery for quite some time,” Gardiner said. “They’ll be back to their old machine for the next little while.”

Someone stole the idling truck about 1:40 a.m. and drove it a few blocks before slamming into objects at a West End intersection.

Ready for a surprise? Wait, not yet, wait, not yet, wait for it…HE WAS DRUNK! Well, possibly but who does this kind of thing sober? I mean, other than Dana Plato from “Diff’rent Strokes.”

Firefighters were responding to a medical call when the thief, who wasn’t named in the story, jumped in the cab of the fire truck and decided to take it for a little spin because I guess he didn’t have any quarters that fire truck in front of the Wal-Mart.

He ended driving the wrong way down a one way street, across a median and into some trees where he was trapped in the vehicle and needed fire crews to pull him out, the Jaws of Life and an explanation for the definition of irony.