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Photos, Videos and
Stories
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These are but a few pictures taken during a
multi-jurisdictional training exercise. The class was delivered by
instructors from the Missouri Fire and Rescue Institute. "Propane
Emergencies -Bobtail" Personnel from nearby fire service agencies
participated, including several companies from Kansas City Fire and Haz Mat
71. The simulator represents the control valve assembly of a small propane
delivery truck. The pressure relief and operational valves work as
they normally would.
Our Taco Bell was destroyed in 1994. The
fire went undiscovered for at least an hour after the business closed. The
sign in the front of the building takes on new meaning. The store was
demolished to the ground and replaced with a combination Taco Bell and
Long John Silver's .
 This is a video of the training mentioned
above. To view the video, move your mouse over the picture and click the
left mouse button. This file is a Windows Media File (wmf) and should open
up in compatible viewers. There are a few more videos below that operate in
the same manner.
  
This was a fatality accident involving a
concrete truck that rolled over a passenger vehicle. The driver of the
concrete truck died on the scene before we arrived. This was an prolonged
extrication, with diesel fuel leaking into the ditch where the vehicle was.
The person in the passenger vehicle was seriously injured and flown to a
local trauma center.
 This is one of the table top
exercises that
was performed in a Captain's assessment Center. This product has an
advantage of three dimensional view of what the candidate did, what he
ordered, where vehicles were placed. In addition to this, from a practical
point, is that this simulation represents a real neighborhood in our city.
Color photographs were laid out on this table to further illustrate the
tactical and strategic issued that need to be addressed
  
Another training exercise was delivered
from Kansas City Haz Mat team. Raytown Fire has trained personnel to assist
with decontamination of established Haz Mat Teams. Since this training,
Raytown Fire participated in this role at the latest Mid America Regional
Council's Haz Mat drill. Eight Haz Mat teams, support teams and all levels
of federal, multi state, and multi state local emergency responders
participated in this two day event.
This is a link to another video (click on
the picture). The video is of a large three story wood frame structure that
had been started to be built, but was abandoned for several years after
financial problems cause the owner to leave the structure in a unfinished
condition. The fire was fast and extremely hot. Four juveniles were arrested
and charged. The court record was sealed due to the suspects being juvenile.
The building was completely destroyed. There were some unique challenges in
fighting this fire: High winds, with a nursing home immediately downwind,
reduced water pressure due to the large demand needed to fight the amount of
fire while protecting the nursing home as an exposure, the project faced a
state highway that was not able to be completely shut down, the date of the
fire was July 31st with high temperatures even at 9 in the morning. Five
master streams (two elevated) and 2 two and a half inch lines were set up on
the only two sides available. No paved areas were on the other two sides.
Overhead power lines burned and fell as far as three hundred feet away from
the building.
The property was resold after the court ordered the previous owner to pay
for the clean up. A convenience store and a retirement townhouse
complex was constructed in its place. The video is about five minutes long.
To view a larger picture of the
button icon for this video,
click here.
  
These pictures were taken during the practical
evolutions of a Driver's promotional exam.
This is another video link. Click on the
picture to activate it. This is a combination editing of a police unit
video cam and actual dispatch radio traffic. At this time, the two are not
in sync. It looks worse than it actually was. The fire occurred on a second
story deck and caught the wood shingle siding on fire. No interior fire
damage occurred.
  The department reaches out to people in
need.
During the Christmas season of 2005, firefighters initiated and helped a
family in Raytown. KMBC TV 9 television station heard from this single
mother who adopted three boys; about getting ripped off by two different
construction contractors. The contractors were hired to finish off a garage
for a bedroom and a family room. They took her money and never returned.
After hearing this story on the news, the Raytown firefighters came in,
arranged for the work to get done by local business men and other Raytown
firefighters, finished the project right before Christmas. The
television station heard of this, and joined in by putting the mother
and the boys as guest in the Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend. Radio Station
KFKF also helped out with getting a new furnace. One of the Raytown Firemen
played Santa, who was delivered to the home by fire truck within a hour
after the family returned from the weekend stay at the Great Wolf
Lodge. Firemen's wives put together time and their own money and went
shopping for gifts for the three boys. A Christmas tree was purchased and
decorated. Furniture, and entertainment center, carpeting and tile were all
donated. I' m sure this is one Christmas that everyone involved will not
soon forget.
This is one of the first videos taken in our
department. Again, click the picture to activate the video. This was set up
with the Kids Congress from one of our high schools, and funded through a
tax initiative known as Combat Challenge. Its purpose was to educate high
school age boys and girls about the real repercussions of drinking and
driving. The video was used internally in the school. Students were allowed
to witness this during regular class room hours. You may notice that the
hill side is covered with students. The video was shown several times during
class room hours right before the prom was scheduled. This video is
edited from its original version. The parts cut out showed what happens
after the accident, including the process of being arrested and put in jail,
what happens in the hospital and long term emotional affects within the
family of the victims and survivors. The realism portrayed here had a
dramatic effect on most witnessing the events. Some students had an
overwhelming emotional experience and felt that this actually happened. This
was even more so with the students that played the actors parts. The video
production was done by one of our firefighters, using four different
cameras.
This edited version is exactly five minutes long.
  Crews
found heavy fire from the back side extending into the interior. Attack crews
defensive mode (left photo). Right photo shows the remains of the covered deck
on the back side. Photos taken ten minutes after arrival (86th and
Pershing 04:30 08/17/2000)
 A
vacant single family dwelling was found to be near 100
percent involved upon arrival. The structure sits on the
Raytown and Kansas City limits so both departments responded.
Crews were withdrawn early due to floor and ceiling
collapse. Defensive operations put the fire under control in
a hour. The response equals two alarms. All together there
were four pumpers, three trucks, a rescue and chiefs from
both departments totaling 36 firefighters. (87th and Stark
15:45 01/01/2001) Photos by Scott Thomas Photography, Inc.
Raytown, Mo. Copyrighted All rights reserved.
  "I Wish You Could See"
I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns.
I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 3 in the morning as check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible was done to try to save his life.
I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar with.
I wish you could understand how it feels to go to work in the morning after having spent most of the night, hot and soaking wet at a multiple alarm.
I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire "Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to an EMS call, "What is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life-threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?"
I wish you could be in the emergency room, as a doctor pronounces dead the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past 25 minutes. Who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy" again.
I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine squad, or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!"
I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years from the remains of her automobile. "What if this was my sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?"
I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not come back from the last call.
I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers, firemen and EMT's out, and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers back, or to hear a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.
I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally and sometimes physically, abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will never happen to me."
I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen.
I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in a time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.
I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging at your arm and asking, "Is Mommy okay?" Not even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say.
To have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having rescue breathing done on him as they take him away in the ambulance. You know all along he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with.
Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, who we are, or what our job really means to us...I wish you could though.
-author unknown-
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