Company says door-to-door solicitors in South King County not claiming to belong to local fire departments

DES MOINES, Wash. -- The Kent and South King fire departments have warned they received complaints that solicitors claiming to be linked to local fire departments were showing up at people's homes in Kent and Des Moines.

Both the Kent and South King fire departments said they were working with police to try to  track down the company to find out its intentions.

On Friday, the owner of the Red Services company, Jared Olin, contacted Q13 FOX News and said Red Services is a legitimate private company that was in Des Moines and Kent to offer a coupon for a free dryer vent cleaning and home fire evaluation.

Olin said he is a firefighter and employs off-duty firefighters.  In light of the residents' complaints, he said they are making changes to ensure the fliers they hand out are clear that the company is private and not affiliated with fire departments.

He said they are also looking into making changes to their uniforms so they don't imply they are with a fire department.

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TEXT BELOW IS FROM OUR EARLIER STORY:

This week, South King Fire and Rescue were notified about solicitors canvassing neighborhoods, claiming to be with fire departments in the area.

Neighbors in Des Moines say they caught one such solicitor on home surveillance. They said this man claimed he was working with local fire departments to do safety checks on people’s homes.

“There may be nothing illegal about this company, but if the comments are that they affiliated with the fire department, then that truly is a misrepresentation,” said South King Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Chuck Kahler.

South King Fire said the department wouldn’t knock on doors selling services or work with an outside company to do the same. Official fire business would also be done in an official vehicle with personnel wearing proper uniforms, they say.