But it turned out the firetruck was not stolen after all — it was removed from the park on Adams Mill Road near Calvert Street NW by another branch of the D.C. government, and the left hand, as they say, didn’t know what the right hand was doing.

The D.C. Department of General Services — whose director recently resigned — said the firetruck was removed after residents complained it was broken, and a danger to children.

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“The Department of General Services’ (DGS) Contract Services Unit responded to community requests to repair the broken equipment,” Kenneth Diggs, an associate director at DGC, said in a statement. “It had been reported to DGS that children were being injured due to a broken plank on the fire truck. After evaluating the equipment, it was determined that the fire truck could not be repaired. In effort to error [sic] on the side of safety, the fire truck was disposed of by DGS to ensure there would be no further injury to children.”

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DGS said it is sorry for the mistake and promised a new truck was on the way.

“DGS regrets both the lack of communication to the community — specifically to those who worked together to purchase the fire truck — and DPR of the removal and disposal of the play equipment,” the statement said. “DGS apologizes for the communication oversight and will replace the equipment with a new fire truck in the next six to eight weeks.”

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What was thought to be the crime of the century came to light when neighbors and community activists posted messages on social media asking what happened to the play structure, which has its own social media hashtag — #FreddieDaFireTruck.

No one was quite sure.

Officials with the District initially wrote back that two departments — the city’s general services division and the department of parks and recreation — had not removed the firetruck from the park for repairs.

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The police were brought in. But even after a police report was filed, it still wasn’t immediately clear that someone had stolen the play firetruck.

Gwendolyn Crump, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, said her department was told the firetruck playground equipment could be hazardous. There were reports of possible rotting wood or other materials that were damaged on it.

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Crump said the department’s “risk management” team went out and inspected it. The team members found that the equipment, however, “was not there.” A check was done within the department to try to figure out whether it had been removed, and the parks department said it reached out to the city’s Department of General Services.

In an email, Crump said “neither DPR nor DGS removes equipment without notifying the community.”

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She said the vendor that supplied the firetruck has also been contacted. It wasn’t clear whether the vendor played any role.

“We are researching the cost and availability of firetruck playground equipment,” Crump wrote.

Meanwhile, neighbors said they miss the play truck and want it back.

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Mindy Moretti, former head of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1C, said the community raised the money back in 2000 to install it and that the play firetruck was special because it had Engine 21 written on the side of it — the nearby firehouse’s number.

“We don’t know if it was going to get repaired and is coming back or what,” she said.

Dustin Sternbeck, the chief spokesman for D.C. police, said Wednesday that a police commander had gone out to the park and talked to community members and taken a report. At that time, the truck’s whereabouts were unknown.

A one-page police report said the playground equipment was “stolen by an unknown person.”

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It is not clear how someone could have taken down the piece of equipment, much less quietly enough that no one noticed. It was bolted down and stands about six feet tall and, when it was installed 16 years ago, the community spent about $8,000 for it. Residents of the area said firefighters from Engine Company 21 and outgoing D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier helped welcome the equipment to the park.