EVERETT, Wash. — On Wednesday, The Everett Fire Chief addressed city leaders about the impact of a stolen fire engine joyride over the weekend that destroyed several cars and property.
“The sight and sound of a fire engine in a community only means one thing: Help is coming. For the first time in 133 years in the city of Everett, due to a criminal,l that was not true last Friday,” said Chief Dave DeMarco.
Everett Fire says the suspect hopped into a running fire engine while crews were responding to a medical emergency.
DeMarco said the suspect was able to overcome a series of steps needed to start the fire truck. He explained why the engine was left running at the time.
“They are essentially a mobile fire station with complex systems, tools, and equipment all required to support emergency operations. They require continuous power to do so,” he said.
The fire department said the 35,000-pound engine rammed 10 cars and destroyed property from Hoyt Avenue to W Marine View Drive.
“It just took away our life. The car was the only lifeline we really had,” said John Wahleithner. Wahleithner and his fiancé, Dawn Zentz, don’t know what do now that their yellow Camaro was one of the cars struck.
They have a GoFundMe to try and replace it.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Suspect steals fire engine in Everett, crashes into over ten cars overnight
“I really couldn’t believe it. I first started laughing, I go, ‘oh, I have better luck in that.’ And then I thought, ‘well, that’s kind of the end of a whole thing in my life,” Zentz said.
Zentz told KIRO 7 it took her a couple of days before she could even look at the picture of her car.
“You don’t have a lot of money, but you build on such and such, and the car was paid for... I loved the car,” she explained.
The couple says they’ve been left with nowhere to go -- including Wahleithner’s planned surgery earlier this week that had to be postponed.
“We have no way to get around. We have nothing anymore,” he said.
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