Photos of Southwest Boulevard Fire 50th Anniversary Memorial Service

There was a memorial service at 10 am this morning to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deadly 1959 Southwest Boulevard gasoline fire.

The first image is looking west down Southwest Blvd..

About where the power pole with the 3 transformers on it and back from the road about 100-feet north is where the original storage tanks were.

The tank blasted into the street about where you see the tailboard of Pumper 25 (P25).

The next pic is an overview of the memorial site itself- located where 31st Street meets Southwest Blvd..

Image 3 is of KC-KS Pumper 10 and KC-MO Pumper 25. Pumper 10 was the first company of both cities to arrive at the Conoco service station/bulk storage facility 50 years ago.

Next is retired KC-MO fire apparatus operator Tony Valenti.

Tony was the only member of Pumper 25 to survive the fire and explosion 50 years ago.

Tony told me years ago that he was with a hose crew on the north or rail yard side of the fire when the tank blew. Tony and that hose crew started running north across the tracks and he fell down between one set of railroad tracks while the fire shot above him.

He looked up to see 2 of the hose crew that was with him on fire and rushed to their aid.

The last shot is of one of the deans of Kansas City news: Charles Gray.

Charles told the crowd that in 1959- Channel 9 news photographers shot ONLY still photos.

Charles and his photographer Joe Adams were on-scene that fateful day when the Adams asked Gray if he could shoot some film.

Charles said HE was the acting news director that day- and approved the switch on the spot (Gray said both he and the photographer feared getting fired using movie film that day).

Gray said at the moment the gasoline tank exploded- Channel 5 had already ran out of film and the Channel 4 photog was reloading his camera.

Channel 9 ended up getting the classic video that shows the gas tank rocketing into Southwest Boulevard among firefighters and trucks.

Charles Gray received a special award today from the fire chiefs of both Kansas City departments.

The survivors of the fallen firefighters received commemorative 50th anniversary medals.



The rest of us gave grateful applause and nods to those who gave their lives then and now.

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