JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

The Star deserves a lot of credit for its story today that explored why two Kansas City firefighters should not have died in the Oct. 12 Independence Avenue fire.

I’m sure the story — spread across the top of the front page — shocked many readers. It knocked me for a loop, that’s for sure.

It was shocking because what had heretofore seemed like an unequivocal tragedy suddenly turned into a story with profound questions about how the Kansas City Fire Department handled the fire.

Hendricks

Campbell

The story, written by veteran reporters Mike Hendricks and Matt Campbell, said that if Fire Department supervisors had followed established, nationally recognized protocol, the firefighters who died would not have been in a 30-foot-wide alley when a three-story brick wall collapsed on them.

Actually there were six firefighters in that alley, and none should have been there because it clearly constituted a “collapse zone,” that is, a confined area where they were likely to be trapped in the event of a collapse. And so it came to pass, and firefighters John Mesh and Larry Leggio died, and firefighter Dan Werner was seriously injured. (He’s on crutches and has not returned to work.)

Everyone who had been in the building was out, so no civilians were in danger at that point. The firefighters were in the alley because they were trying to beat down the fire so it wouldn’t jump across the alley and engulf a grocery store to the east. But being in the alley, their lives were at risk.

It’s not clear who told them to go into the alley; it doesn’t sound like they did that on their own. What we know is that the incident commander had declared a collapse zone, and the alley was clearly within the zone and should have been cleared. Moreover, supervisors knew firefighters were in the alley and didn’t order them out. Mesh’s and Leggio’s immediate supervisor, a captain, had left the alley to check with his supervisors to see what they wanted him and his crew to do next.

…What I liked about the way this story was written and presented is that Hendricks and Campbell approached it straightforwardly but with great sensitivity.

They didn’t shrink from the fact that a screw-up resulted in two firefighters dying. And they cited a federal safety agency’s assessment of the importance of clearing firefighters from collapse zones:

Obviously, no building is worth a firefighter’s life. Therefore, imminent risk to save a firefighter’s life is unacceptable.

On the other hand, they didn’t try to pin the blame on any supervisors in particular. Here’s as far as they went on that front: “The (fire) department did not respond to The Star’s request for the names of the commander and other supervisors on the scene.”

That’s all that needed to be said. The supervisors, from the captain to the incident commander, have to live with their actions and decisions. That’s an awful thing, and there’s nothing to be gained by hanging individuals out to dry. What emerged clearly from the story was that the Kansas City Fire Department, which claims to be among the best in the nation, needs to conduct a top-to-bottom examination of its response procedures to major fires.

The reporters tried to nudge Fire Chief Paul Berardi toward seeking an independent review of the department’s response to the fire, quoting a deputy fire chief in Fort Worth who said that would be the correct thing to do. Berardi didn’t want to hear of it, however, saying the national safety agency’s report will tell the full story.

A major problem with that, however, is the safety agency’s report could take up to a year to complete.

It seems almost certain that an independent review, focusing exclusively on this fire in this city, would yield a much faster report that would lead to quicker policy changes, which, obviously, are badly needed.

The reporters also pointed out that KCFD has no written protocol for dealing with collapse zones. The Star’s story ended with a quote from the Fort Worth deputy chief, who said if the department didn’t have such a protocol, “that’s an area you need to work on.”

Just as they did on the identity of the supervisors, Hendricks and Campbell didn’t wield a sledgehammer on the need for an independent review and updated protocols.

With two firefighters dead and a third still on crutches, this was a delicate story that required deft handling by the reporters and their editors. The Star gets an A+ on this one.