Followup: Fire truck now gone from the lawn

(UPDATED THURSDAY AFTERNOON with reply from the fire truck’s owner)

Don’t know yet how long it’s been gone or where it moved off to – we hadn’t traveled 44th SW in The Junction for at least a few days – but the semi-famous front-lawn fire truck is now gone, exactly one month after we published this story after hearing from owner Gary Elliott. He had said the city gave him a deadline of March 15th (city records confirm this) to either move it or get a permit – or face fees and fines – and that he intended to move it, and move it, he seems to have done. (He had told us it ran “perfectly” when he drove it from the northwestern Oregon that sold it to Seattle, 45 mph all the way.) We have sent him a note to inquire about its fate. We’ll update this story with any reply we get; meantime, here’s the truck as shown in our original December report:

THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Short reply from truck owner Gary Elliott just came in:

Removed the fire truck Tuesday, started right up and drove it to Belfair, where we are going to be in the Tahuya Day parade? I hope the city likes the brown lawn.

(Belfair is in Mason County in the South Sound; the parade is in July.)

miws March 9, 2011 (4:02 pm)

Thanks for the update. I was just thinking about it last evening.

Haven’t been up that way myself for awhile, so was wondering if it was still there.

Mike

JD March 9, 2011 (4:26 pm)

I have my fingers crossed that my cousins will pull up in that firetruck when they come to dinner tonight! (Are you listening, Cousin Gary & Cousin Camille?)

WSB March 9, 2011 (4:35 pm)

JD, your comment leads me to realize there’s always a chance it had just been driven away for the day. Probably not likely, but you never know. (And the car parked in front of the lawn would likely have prevented any exit or re-entrance.) I’ll have to drive by later to check :) … and/or, let us know if you hear the story, my note hasn’t yielded a reply yet … TR

WS Girl March 9, 2011 (4:56 pm)

I work in building next door. It was driven away, yesterday 3/8/11.

West Seattle Steve March 9, 2011 (5:14 pm)

I saw him warming it up just before noon yesterday, and it was gone when I got back about 20 minutes later.

Bob Loblaw March 9, 2011 (7:12 pm)

maybe there was a fire.

Genessee neighbor March 9, 2011 (7:20 pm)

Kind of sorry to see it gone. It was a great fire truck. Does that mean that the insurance agent’s Mini Cooper will be gone from the sidewalk permanently too? :)

redblack March 9, 2011 (8:00 pm)

what?! though i had driven by it about a zillion times, i noticed this for the first time yesterday around 4 p.m.
.
i thought to myself, “oh. that’s what they were talking about.”
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then i thought, “what’s the big deal?”
.
now it’s gone.
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weird.

ad March 9, 2011 (8:53 pm)

I liked it and will miss it. Hehe.

A March 9, 2011 (9:39 pm)

I think I saw it on Beach Drive yesterday. Take Jacobsen down and turn left. It was on the right side of the street – can’t remember how far, but before Menashe house.

GetaLife RideaBike March 9, 2011 (9:55 pm)

I’m hoping he is just out picking up tabs and he will park that magnificant machine in the four spaces on the street! Whoohoo.
I am hoping they only need to move it once a day when they walk the Dalmation! If they need to move it every two hours I hope they use the siren….really need to be safe! = )

kootchman March 10, 2011 (12:48 am)

Exactly! Just what is the “big deal”? If we could just get rid of that hag and her traffic enforcement scooter…sigh. It was causing no harm to anyone. Why does the city waste time and inconvenience us with this petty crap. Hey, Land Use and Zoning….what’s up with the perpetual massive hole that was a developer gone bust? You or I with a swimming pool would be harassed to death if there was no fence….yet the old auto parts store lot is open, no fence in case a car accident causes a vehicle to jump the fence and plummet three stories…every 12 year old kid sees an attractive nuisance…but the city loves to nanny harass …