At the age of five, Assistant Fire Chief Jimmy Walker of the Kansas City (MO) Fire Department (KCFD) lost his father, then a KCFD captain, in a building collapse on April 27, 1981. On October 15, 2015, Chief Walker was on scene at a fire which claimed the lives of two KCFD members, Larry Leggio and John Mesh, in another building collapse. On this episode, Joe Pronesti sits down with Chief Walker to discuss the building, the actions of first in companies, the collapse and the recovery both on scene and how the department has moved forward with the lesson learned this event.
Correction (10/16/20): An earlier version of this story had Chief Walker’s name as “Williams.”
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