Kansas City Fire Department
Encyclopedia
The Kansas City Fire Department provides fire protection, emergency medical service, emergency rescue and hazardous materials response for residents of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
It operates 34 fire stations that are organized into seven battalions and cover 318 square miles (823.6 km²).
The KCFD is made up of 34 Pumper Companies (engines), 12 Truck Companies (aerial ladders), three Rescue Companies (technical rescue), one Haz-Mat Company (hazardous materials), and one ARFF Company (aviation rescue and fire fighting, located at the Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...
).
Its EMS
Emergency medical services
Emergency medical services are a type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency...
team is made up of 30 ALS transport ambulances statically deployed from fire stations and additional dynamically deployed ALS transport ambulances (scheduled during peak demand times of each day) under the direction of 8 EMS Assistant Division Chiefs .
Per the city charter, the fire department's top manager position is the fire chief, currently Chief Richard “Smokey” Dyer. Additional staffing consists of seven battalion chiefs (incident command response units) and one deputy chief who serves as the city wide shift commander for all fire department activities.
The force totals more than 1500 , and headquarters is located at 635 Woodland Avenue in Kansas City.http://ww4.kcmo.org/fire.nsf/web/home
History
The Kansas City Fire Department first originated with the formation of volunteer bucket brigades as early as 1858. Church bells rung to signal a fire alarm and members would assemble at the scene to help.
In 1867, the city abandoned the voluntary bucket brigade for a paid fire department, and Colonel Frank Foster was elected as its first chief.http://business.highbeam.com/6100/article-1G1-177176791/hazmat-response-kansas-city-mo-deadly-incident-led Equipment for the new force included a Silsby rotary engine with hose and two wheeled hose wagons. The new engine arrived by steamer in August and, when tested, was able to throw a stream over the Gillis Opera House at 5th and Main Streets.
The first ladder company was organized in 1869, named McGee Hook and Ladder 1 in honor of former mayor Elijah Milton McGee
Elijah M. McGee
Elijah McGee was a Democratic Kansas City Mayor in 1870 and a developer whose family name is applied to many streets in Kansas City....
. The truck was made locally and placed into service in July, 1870. By 1872, the department consisted of three steamers, one hook and ladder, one chemical engine, and 36 paid professional firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
s.http://business.highbeam.com/6100/article-1G1-177176791/hazmat-response-kansas-city-mo-deadly-incident-led
In 1877, not long after the city water works had been established, the city leaders thought that there would be sufficient water pressure to fight fires. The fire chief was ordered to remove all of the steamers from service and reduce the force to only 14 men.
Shortly thereafter, there was a disastrous fire in the West Bottoms
Kansas City Stockyards
The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991.Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from the 1948 to its closing in 1991.-History:...
. The KCFD was only able to respond with hose wagons and suffered from low water pressure. As a result, the entire block was threatened and several buildings were destroyed. The steamers were placed back in service the next day.
In 1882, George C. Hale was appointed Chief of the KCFD, a role he held for 31 years. During this time, the KCFD twice represented the United States as the "American Fire Team" at International Fire Congress: London in 1893 and a Paris exposition in 1900. The London competition simulated a night alarm. The men began the race turned out in bed, had to descend a flight of stairs, harness and hitch the horses, and clear the engine house. The best time in Europe was 77.5 seconds, but was handily beaten in 8.5 seconds by the team from Kansas City.
The KCFD fire crew won a similar competition at the National Fireman's Tournament in Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
in 1898. Hale, once known as the world’s most famous fireman, revolutionized fire fighting with his more than 60 patented firefighting inventions, including the Hale water tower, the swinging (horse) harness, the rotary tin roof cutter, and the telephone fire alarm. Chief Hale remains one of the most revered to ever head the KCFD.http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Biographies&CISOPTR=180&CISOBOX=1&REC=3
By the 1920s, the fire department had grown to 30 stations and 40 companies. In 1928, the first training school opened and the department was fully motorized. 1940 saw a new beginning for the department with 198 new hires, but manpower was depleted with enlistments for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1956, a third platoon was installed.
In August 1959 the Kansas City Fire Department was hit with their largest loss of in the line of duty deaths to date, when a 25,000 gallon gas tank exploded during a fire on Southwest Boulevard killing five firefighters. This was the first time BLEVE
BLEVE
A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion occurs when a vessel containing a pressurized liquid above its boiling point ruptures.-Mechanism:...
was used to describe a burning fuel tank.
By 1967, the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department had more than 50 companies in more than 40 stations spread throughout the city's 316 square miles in four counties.
In early April 1968, National Guardsmen rode on some fire companies during a riot after snipers shot at firefighters fighting one of the many fires set by arsonists.
In 1972, Kansas City International Airport opened 15 miles northwest of downtown, and KCFD crews manned the first ARFF fire station (Station 5) containing 3 fire-rescue rigs.
In early October 1975, all the members of IAFF Local 42- most of the fire department- went on the first of 2 job actions or 'strikes.'
No deaths or injuries resulted, but there were at least a dozen fires that were extinguished by police officers serving an added role as (untrained) firefighters as well as a few non-unionized fire departments who provided mutual aid.
After the 1975 strike, city officials changed the hours of the 3 platoons (A, B and C-shifts) from 24-hours on and 48-hours off to 5 8-hour shifts and 2 days off.
Many firefighters who had their time-on-the-job took their retirements, and the fire department suffered from low morale and old, sub-standard fire fighting equipment that at first was used on each 8-hour shift to patrol their districts.
On January 28, 1978, the city's deadliest fire occurred at the historic Coates House Hotel at 1005 Broadway.
It was just after 4:10 a.m. that Sunday morning when an "unknown" fire was reported in the 6-story- U-shaped structure.
Twenty people died- at least 5 of them leaping from the burning building- in that 4-plus alarm fire that was fought in below-zero-degree wind chills.
Although around 50 firefighters fought bravely and saves dozens of lives, the fire department's old and outdated fire equipment and it's bare-minimum manning of that equipment contributed to the death toll at the Coates House.
In early March 1980 was the 2nd 'strike,' with a small number of striking firefighters actually arrested and jailed.
Again, there were no deaths or injuries reported as a result of the fires that occurred during this job action.
Later in 1980, the KCFD endured with the rest of the Midwest a record heatwave.
Fire department personnel tended to dozens of brush fires and help treat the more than 200 Kansas City MO deaths that occurred due to heat-related causes that summer.
On July 17, 1981, the department responded to the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
The Hyatt Regency hotel walkway collapse was a collapse of an interior suspended skywalk system that occurred on July 17, 1981, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, killing 114 people and injuring 216 others during a tea dance. At the time, it was the deadliest structural collapse in U.S...
, which killed 113 people during a tea dance.
This remains, by far, the city's (and one of America's) deadliest man-made disaster.
On November 29, 1988, the fire department was struck with it's worst single-incident loss of firefighters.
Pumper Company 41 was first dispatched around 3:50 a.m. on a pickup truck fire that later appeared to be intentionally-set. While on this fire, Pumper 30 was sent on another fire visible to the first crew and in the area where the explosions would occur.
Equipment around one semi-truck type trailer loaded with 20,000 pounds of an explosive ammonium-nitrate mixture was burning, but the two crews didn't know of the devastating hazard sealed inside.
At 4:08 a.m., the trailer exploded, instantly killing all six fire fighters.
A battalion chief and his driver had just arrived near the scene and were slightly injured when the blast's shock wave blew out the car's windows.
A dozen fire and EMS rescue units responded and stood helplessly by just over a mile away until the hazards in the highway construction area could be accessed.
At 4:47 a.m., a second ammonium nitrate trailer near the initial blast that contained about 30,000 pounds of product exploded.
Pumper 41's truck was totally obliterated by both blasts. Pumper 30's year-old apparatus, although still recognizable as a fire truck, was shattered and bent.
The bodies of Gerald Halloran, Thomas Fry, Luther Hurd from Pumper 30 and James Kilventon, Jr., Robert McKarnin and Michael Oldham from Pumper 41 were recovered from the blast area later into the daylight hours.
The memorial service at Arrowhead Stadium
Arrowhead Stadium
Arrowhead Stadium is a stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri and home to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs....
the following weekend received over 5,000 fire fighters in attendance from the United States and around the world and was attended by more than 20,000 Metro residents.
As a result of this tragedy, a hazardous materials team was created and named HazMat 71 in honor of the two companies (addition of the 2 company numbers- not the highway) that lost men in the explosion.
In 1991, the Firefighters Fountain was dedicated at 31st Street and Broadway in Penn Valley Park
Penn Valley Park
Penn Valley Park is an urban park overlooking Downtown Kansas City Kansas City, Missouri.The park was developed in 1904 on land through which the Santa Fe Trail had passed. It contains two famous landmarks: The Scout and the United States' official World War I museum with its Liberty Memorial...
to all firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty throughout the city’s history.http://www.garden-fountains.com/articles/firefighters-fountain.html
In 1993, firefighters were kept busy by the record Missouri River flooding.
On July 9, crews in boats helped rescue several people trapped on roofs in the pre-dawn hours when Southwest Boulevard suffered major flash flooding from nearby Turkey Creek.
Later that day, fire companies monitored the situation when a large former Corps of Engineers dredge boat came loose on the rapidly-rising Kansas River and slammed into several highway and railroad bridges before being coralled by tugboats.
Nearly three weeks later, fire department pumps were used to help save the Kansas City water treatment plant from being flooded when the nearby Missouri River reached it's all-time record flood crest.
In 1997, after an audit of the fleet showed aging apparatus, the KCFD made history when they purchased 44 fire rescue vehicles (a total fleet replacement) from Emergency One, and have gone on to do this twice since.
On April 25, 2010, Kansas City's ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
service, Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust ("MAST")
Municipal Ambulance Services Trust
Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust is a former non-profit EMS agency that was the sole ambulance provider for Kansas City, Missouri. On April 25, 2010, MAST was merged into the Kansas City Fire Department to operate as one municipal services department...
merged into the Kansas City Fire Department.
KCFD Station Directory
Station number, Address, Zip code, Neighborhoodhttp://kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/Fire/FireStationDirectory/index.htm1 15480 Hangar Road 64147 Old Richards-Gebaur AFB
3 11101 North Oak Trafficway 64155 Nashua
4 4000 NW 64th Street 64151 Line Creek
5 173 N Ottawa Avenue 64153 KCI
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport , originally named Mid-Continent International Airport, is a public airport located 15 miles northwest of the central business district of Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri, United States. In 2008, 10,469,892 passengers used the airport...
6 2600 NE Parvin Road 64117 Avondale
7 616 West Pennway Street 64108 Westside
8 1517 Locust Street 64108 East Crossroads
10 1505 E. 9th Street 64106 Columbus Park
14 8300 N. Brighton Avenue 64119 Maple Woods
16 9205 NW 112th Street 64153 Former TWA/American Airlines Overhaul Base
17 3401 The Paseo 64109 Linwood
18 3211 Indiana Avenue 64129 Ingleside
19 550 W. 43rd Street 64111 Westport
23 4777 Independence Avenue 64124 Northeast
24 2039 Hardesty Avenue 64127 Van Brunt
25 401 E. Missouri Avenue 64106 City Market
27 6600 E. Truman Road 64126 East Blue Valley
28 930 E. Red Bridge Road 64131 Red Bridge
29 1414 E. 63rd Street 64110 Brookside
30 7534 Prospect Avenue 64132 Marlborough
33 7504 E. 67th Street 64133 East Swope Highlands
34 4836 N. Brighton Ave 64119 Winnwood
35 3200 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd 64130 Swope Parkway
36 9903 Holmes Road 64131 Indian Creek
37 7708 Wornall Road 64114 Waldo
38 8100 N. Oak Trafficway 64118 Metro North
39 E. 47th Street & Sterling 64133 Pittman/Blue Ridge
40 5200 N. Oak Trafficway 64118 Englewood
41 9300 Hillcrest Road 64137 Bannister
42 6006 E. Red Bridge Road 64113 Hickman Mills
43 12900 E. 350 Highway 64138 Raytown
44 7511 NW Barry Road 64153 Zona Rosa
45 500 E. 131st Court 64146 Martin City
47 5130 Deramus Avenue 64120 East Bottoms
Sources
Kansas City Fire Department History and YearbookKansas City Fire Museum, 30 West Pershing Road (Union Station), Kansas City, Missouri
External links
- http://www.kcmo.org/fire.nsf/web/home
- http://ww4.kcmo.org/fire.nsf/web/chiefoffice
- http://www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/Fire/
- http://www.kcfiremuseum.org
- http://www.iaff42.org