By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
April 15, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A Saturday morning car fire near Scarritt and Hardesty Avenues that claimed one life is leading to some harsh criticism on firefighter response time.

According to published reports, Kansas City Police were following a suspicious vehicle around 3 a.m. Saturday, April 11. When officers attempted to pull over the vehicle, the driver evaded officers and drove away at a high rate of speed. Officers did not pursue, but continued their patrols. A few minutes later, the same officers noticed the vehicle had crashed and had caught fire near Scarritt and Hardesty Avenues.

Firefighters, however, were hindered from responding quickly because, according to Kansas City Fire Department sources, the alarm was not received at the station because vandals had recently stolen copper phone lines that carry the station’s alarm bells. One witness stated it took firefighters close to 25 minutes to respond to the fire, which was a little over a mile away from the station. Police officers on the scene emptied six of their in-car fire extinguishers before fire crews arrived and extinguished the flames. The driver of the vehicle was killed in the fire and the other was transported to an area hospital with serious injuries. Another female passenger escaped the car with minor injuries.

Captain Tye Grant, of the Kansas City Police Department’s media unit, issued the following statement after neighbors criticized responding officers for keeping them away from the fire:

“The responding officers emptied several fire extinguishers on the vehicle and were able to rescue two of the three occupants. They risked their lives last night to try to save the occupants of the vehicle…It may be possible that the officers kept neighbors back so as not to get hurt or injured in the case of an explosion, but I am not sure of that. It is unfortunate that many officers can be so selfless yet reported to be so vicious.”

Both the Police and Fire Departments are continuing to investigate the incident. The fire department is continuing its investigate of the copper theft, as well. The name of the victim has not yet been released.