Start with the City’s residential tank dataset, then decide which paper is missing. Seattle Fire Department (SFD) publishes its residential heating-oil decommission permits, permit code 6103, as the Underground Storage Tank (UST) Records – Residential dataset. The City’s dataset description says a record with incomplete tank information means SFD never received the required follow-up report, and that SFD records begin in 1996. An incomplete row is a missing-report flag. It does not tell you whether the work happened or what condition the tank or soil is in.
The dataset can be filtered by address or permit number. Each row carries these fields: Address, Permit Number, Date Issued, Tank Size, Tank Age, Tank Content, Date Decommissioned, Type Decommissioned, Fill Material, Zip Code and Company. Copy the permit number, issue date, decommission date and type exactly as shown. If you only have an address or an old contractor note, treat those as clues for a records request, not as proof that a row should exist.
What the City’s tank data shows
We counted the City’s dataset on October 20, 2026. It held 50,251 permit rows. The decommission type breaks down this way:
- Abandonment in place: 35,177 rows, about 70%. The tank stays in the ground, filled with inert material.
- Removal: 11,947 rows.
- Removed and replaced with a new tank: 1,642 rows.
- No decommission type entered: about 1,450 rows, plus a handful of one-off codes such as “X” and “AF.” A blank type is the kind of gap the City describes as incomplete tank information.
- No decommission date: 94 rows.
Permit volume peaked right after the 1996 state requirement, at about 2,850 permits a year in 1997 and 1998, and has run near 1,000 to 1,100 a year in 2024 and 2025. So most Seattle oil-heat houses that converted after 1996 should have a row, and a house that converted earlier may have none. If your row says abandonment in place, the tank is still underground; that matters for a buyer even when the paperwork is complete.
What paperwork a completed decommission should have produced
SFD’s Client Assistance Memo 5962 (updated March 2024) describes the paper trail. Knowing it tells you which piece to ask for:
- Permit application stamped “Approved to Proceed.” SFD issues the 6103 permit to the contractor doing the work, not to the owner, and won’t issue one after the work is done.
- ICC-certified decommissioner. The work must be done or supervised on site by a person certified by the International Code Council, whose certificate is on file with SFD.
- Heating Oil Tank Decommissioning Report Form. The decommissioner must return it to SFD within 30 days of finishing and give the owner a copy within the same 30 days. This is the follow-up report the dataset tracks.
- Owner’s file. SFD tells owners to keep the stamped application, the report form, receipts and certifications.
The memo also says the Fire Code doesn’t require soil samples or a site plan. If a tank leaked, reporting and cleanup fall under the Washington State Department of Ecology, not the Fire permit. A complete 6103 row is therefore not a soil report.
What an incomplete entry can and cannot answer
An incomplete flag marks a report-receipt gap, not a later conclusion. Put any contractor statement beside its author and date; it may refer to a different event than the City’s status. Do not use the flag as a substitute for the missing document.
Consider a fictional pair of files. House A’s 2004 City entry is marked incomplete while an invoice describes work. The invoice is not the follow-up report, and the City flag does not erase it. House B’s 1992 family note has no City row; the dataset’s stated records begin in 1996. Neither fictional file supports a finding about actual soil conditions or a real property.
Use this four-line identity note before asking for a missing copy:
- File 1: Transcribe its printed address, reference, status and date. Mark each missing detail unknown.
- File 2: Transcribe the other paper’s author, date, reference and named tank, if present.
- Join: Compare the references and tank descriptions. Circle a mismatch even if the addresses agree; do not merge different revisions or stages.
- Gap: Name the connecting document you need. Until a record supplies that link, keep the invoice separate from the unreceived report.
This comparison gives the next request a precise target. For A, ask whether a named follow-up report, full Fire permit file, or later correspondence is held, and keep the contractor paper as a separate source. For B, ask whether any older Fire record survives under the known address, date range and names already on the papers.
Route the missing object, not a general tank-status question
The City’s commonly requested records page routes a full Fire permit record, and commercial underground-tank records, through the Public Records Request Center. The 1996 start date applies to the residential dataset only; it is not a cutoff for every Fire or commercial file.
Use the Public Records Request Center for the copy itself. Name Seattle Fire as the department, say whether the tank was residential or commercial, and give the property address, an approximate year, the 6103 permit number if you have it, and the exact missing item: the stamped application, the decommissioning report form or later correspondence. Ask what record, if any, the City holds. For a pre-1996 tank, also ask the seller for the contractor’s own file, since SFD says it may have nothing.
A missing row is a search result, not a finding. A decommission permit is not a cleanup or present-condition report.
The Seattle building-permit search guide covers the separate SDCI building-record route. The Georgia tank-status guide illustrates why tank inventory and cleanup records must be kept distinct, but its Georgia agencies and steps do not apply in Seattle. A tank entry does not prove soil conditions or permit closure.
Seattle dataset counted and Seattle Fire Department sources checked October 20, 2026.