By Shannon Lukens.

 

A special gift was given to the Shaw family over the holidays, as a community effort. It’s their old, well-used child’s firetruck, that was completely transformed by some caring locals.

 

The Shaw family in North Routt lost their mom, Sancy, in a car crash on I-70, on Christmas Eve in 2018. Their daughter, Charlee, was also injured.

 

Jackson Shaw in the firetruck about ten years ago.

This little firetruck was a gift to the family from Sancy’s parents, Keith and Bonnie Florquist. It was very worn out and Brett Shaw put it out in the dumpster.

“It had many years of love and many years of abuse. It was all busted up. They had basically literally ran the wheels off of the thing.”

 

Stu Koci is a local EMT and Firefighter in North Routt and he saw it and decided he would get it fixed, with help from Steamboat Lumber, where he works. So he pulled it out of the dumpster and got others in the community to replace the parts, Scott Belton sandblasted it, and they got it fixed up.

“They basically treated it like a regular car and they stripped it down, and brought it back to its original glory.”

 

 

Terry Paulsen got it at Russell’s Auto Salon and they sanded it, finished it up, and painted it so that it looks brand new.

“I thought it turned out great, for a family that deserves it.”

 

Stu presented the firetruck back to the Shaw family for the holidays. Shaw says it reminds the family of a very sweet time in their life.

“And Stu was able to, through a lot of people, give us a piece of that back. So it was a real special treat for us.”

 

From 9News on Feb. 19, 2019 — Four-Time drunken driver caused Christmas Eve Crash that shattered a family