There is at least one injury reported at a 2-alarm fire in a building at 75th street and Washington.
The first alarm was sounded at 9:56 am, upgraded to a first-alarm at 10 am and the 2nd-alarm sounded 7 minutes later.
More as received ...
1014 CST UPDATE:
Report from fire department chief are "6 injured" - all apparently firefighters - with "some of them burned pretty good (bad)."
More as received ...
1020 CST UPDATE -
AT LEAST ONE AND AS MANY AS "3 CRITICAL" INJURIES ARE REPORTED BY MAST PARAMEDICS ON THE SCENE.
ALL ARE REPORTED TO BE KC, MO FIREFIGHTERS WHO WERE INSIDE A BURNING BUILDING AT 7500 WASHINGTON..
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1041 CST UPDATE -
THE 2-ALARM-PLUS FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN AT 7500 WASHINGTON IN KC, MO'S HISTORIC WALDO AREA. THE BUILDING CONTAINS A TAVERN AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHER BUSINESSES.
FIRE CREWS HAVE ENGAGED IN A "DEFENSIVE" ATTACK OF THE FIRE AFTER THIS BECAME THE WORST MASS-CASUALTY INCIDENT INVOLVING KC, MO FIREFIGHTERS SINCE 6 WERE KILLED IN 1988.
"SIX" FIREFIGHTERS WERE REPORTEDLY BURNED INSIDE THE STRUCTURE WHEN ATTEMPTING TO FIND THE SOURCE OF THE FIRE, WHICH WAS REPORTED AT 9:56 AM.
I HAVE SO FAR HEARD 4 MAST-EMS TRANSPORTS OF INJURED FIREFIGHTERS - ONE OF THEM DEEMED CRITICAL WITH "2ND & 3RD-DEGREE BURNS" AND AIRWAY DIFFICULTIES. THE OTHERS GENERALLY HAVE 2ND-DEGREE BURNS TO EXTREMITIES (ARMS, LEGS).
THE FIRE CONTINUES TO BURN OUT OF CONTROL...
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1315 CST FINAL UPDATE -
IN KANSAS CITY, MO'S WORST FIREFIGHTER MASS-CASUALITY INCIDENT SINCE 1988, FIVE FIREFIGHTERS WERE INJURED - TWO OF THEM IN SERIOUS TO CRITICAL CONDITION -IN A 2-ALARM-PLUS FIRE IN KC'S HISTORIC WALDO AREA.
THE FIRE IN THE 1/3-BLOCK LONG, L-SHAPED - 2-STORY BUILDING IS VIRTUALLY UNDER CONTROL, MORE THAN 3 HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL ALARM SOUNDED JUST BEFORE 10 AM.
AT LEAST 11 KCFD COMPANIES ARE ON THE SCENE. NO OTHER INJURIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED.
FIVE COMPANIES RESPONDED WHEN THE LONG, SINGLE TONE SOUNDED AT 9:56 AM: "STRUCTURE FIRE, 7500 WASHINGTON - (CHIEF) 107- PUMPERS 29-30-37- TRUCKS 11-15." THE FIRST COMPANY ARRIVED IN AROUND 2 MINUTES REPORTING "LIGHT SMOKE SHOWING." CREWS WERE INITIALLY HAMPERED BY "ACCESS" PROBLEMS TO THE BUILDING AND SOME WATER PRESSURE PROBLEMS.
ENTRY IS MADE- INTERIOR CREWS REPORT "HEAVY SMOKE" - BUT HAVE TROUBLE FINDING BOTH STAIRWELLS TO THE 2ND-FLOOR AND THE SOURCE OF THE FIRE. CHIEF 107 ORDERS THE FD-JARGON "FIRST-ALARM" THEN A "WORKING FIRE RESPONSE" AT 10 AM, BRINGING IN CHIEF 106, RESCUE 9 AND PUMPER 33. MAST SENDS UNIT 165 AT 10:01 NON-EMERGENCY ON THEIR WORKING FIRE RESPONSE "STAND-BY.
MINUTES LATER, THE COMMUNICATIONS TURN CHAOTIC ON KCFD'S FIRE TACTICAL CHANNEL 2.
AT 10:04 AM, SOME YELLING IS HEARD - IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY WHAT SOUNDS TO BE "WE HAVE INJURED COMING OUT" WITH A LOT OF BACKGROUND SHOUTS & NOISE. THE HEAVY SMOKE INSIDE THE BUILDING HAD BECOME SUPER-HEATED AND AUTO-IGNITED WHAT OXYGEN REMAINED SEEKING THE OPENED DOORS - A FLASHOVER.
ALL THE BURNED FIREFIGHTERS - INITIALLY REPORTED TO BE "6" BY CHIEF 107 - BUT ONLY 5 TAKEN TO HOSPITALS - WERE IMMEDIATELY CARRIED FROM THE BUILDING AND AT 10:05 AM THE CHIEF ORDERS ALL CREWS FROM THE BUILDING. MAST-165 UPGRADED "EMERGENCY" RESPONSE AT 10:06 AND UNIT 143 ADDED.
CHIEF 107 ORDERS A "SECOND-ALARM" AT 10:07 AM - HE IS URGENT FOR AMBULANCES AND TELLS THE DISPATCHER TO "GET SOME IN FROM JOHNSON COUNTY (KS)" AS NONE HAD YET ARRIVED ON THE SCENE. AGAIN, THERE ARE WATER PRESSURE ISSUES AS THE LADDER TRUCKS EXTEND THEIR WATER TOWERS DURING THIS TIME.
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS BECOME CHAOTIC FROM HERE ON - FIVE MORE MAST-EMS AND TWO MORE FIRE UNITS SENT IN OVER THE NEXT 30 MINUTES. MEDICAL TRANSPORTS OF THE 5 INJURED TO RESEARCH AND K.U. MEDICAL CENTERS AS WELL AS ST. LUKE'S MAIN. TWO OF THEM SOUND TO BE IN SERIOUS TO CRITICAL CONDITION - THE ONES TAKEN TO K.U..
THE TV NEWS HELICOPTER SCENES TELL THE STORY OF THE PROGRESSION OF THE FIRE OVER THE NEXT 2 HOURS. THE BUILDING IS REPORTED TO BE THE OLD WALDO THEATER - WITH BUSINESSES ON THE FIRST FLOOR - INCLUDING WELL-KNOWN KENNEDY'S TAVERN - AND APARTMENTS ON THE SECOND. FORTUNATELY, THERE WERE NO OCCUPANTS IN THOSE APARTMENTS.
THE ENTIRE BUILDING WAS CONSUMED IN ORANGE FLAMES IN BILLOWING GREY-BLACK SMOKE THAT - ONCE AGAIN- BLEW IN A HUGE CLOUD TOWARD THE PLAZA AND DOWNTOWN. PIECES OF THE BUILDING COLLAPSED SPECTACULARLY ONTO 75TH STREETS AND WASHINGTON. FOUR AERIAL LADDERS PLAYED STREAMS OF 750-GALLONS PER MINUTE EACH BETWEEN THE FIRE AND NEIGHBORING BUILDINGS. SEVERAL STREET-LEVEL HANDLINES SHOT INTO FIRE-BLACKENED HOLES WHERE WINDOWS AND DOORS ONCE WERE.
HUNDREDS OF SPECTATORS AND NEWS CREWS CONVERGED ON THE AREA. FOUR TV NEWS HELICOPTERS CIRCLED THE SCENE. PEOPLE IN BUILDINGS UP TO FIVE MILES NORTH - THE ARMOUR & BROADWAY AREA - REPORTED SMELLING THE FIRE'S SMOKE WHERE THEY WERE. PICTURES OF THE BLAZE SHOWED NATIONALLY ON MS-NBC, FOX AND CNN NEWS CHANNELS.
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