It took almost 8 minutes for the nearest KC fire company to arrive at the Cloverleaf Apartments in the 14500 block of South U.S. 71 (I-49)- yet Grandview's fire department probably could have been on the scene in at least half that time.
About 3 years ago- KC-MO Fire- due to budget concerns- removed fire company Pumper 1 from their station at the old Richards-Gebaur Air Force base and closed the station.
Now- the closest KC fire station- Station 42- is north of Grandview (see accompanying map image)- on Red Bridge Road about 5 blocks east of I-47/U.S. 71.
Yet- all 3 of Grandview's stations are much closer to Cloverleaf- but none of their fire companies were requested by KCFD dispatch.
It's true that KC Fire does not have an "automatic" mutual aid response from Grandview as they do for cities like Raytown- but a simple phone or radio call to GFD dispatch still would have had the GFD rolling that way.
Just because there is no "automatic" aid does not in any way mean that such a spot request would not be honored if GFD has units available (they did).
Residents of that complex should be glad the fire didn't happen in the middle of the night- or during inclement weather that would have delayed KC's response even further.
No comments:
Post a Comment