Thieves Target Seattle Fire Fighting Units While Fire Fighters Respond to Calls

 

According to KOMO News, on Thursday, July 20, while firefighters were battling a large warehouse fire in the Chinatown-International District (CID) they interrupted a theft while it was happening. Seattle fire officials told the outlet that nothing was taken this time, noting that Seattle police at the scene assisted in keeping their equipment secure as they battled the warehouse fire, but did express concern that fire units are becoming known targets for thieves.

Kenny Stuart, president of IAFF Local 27, told the outlet, “We’ve seen greater incidents of actual thefts and attempted thefts of frontline equipment from fire apparatuses recently. We rely on our equipment so we can protect lives and property.”

The previous week, thieves got into a unit parked in Ballard, and in the middle of the day in a busy parking lot, made off with four front-line rescue saws and a generator, totaling thousands of dollars of equipment.

Last month, there were two separate incidents of people attempting to steal fire engines while crews were responding to calls.

In response, even though the department is dangerously short-staffed, two people are required to stay with the unit while on non-emergency work as the Seattle city council expansion of the city's municipal code regarding obstructing a public officer to include firefighters has failed to yield any results.

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