A fire department engine in Kansas City, Mo., was involved in an accident that killed one firefighter and injured three other firefighters and the driver of another vehicle. According to a Jan. 23 report in The Kansas City Star, the police report noted that the engine's brakes were out of adjustment, and city records show that the brakes had not been serviced for 16 months.

The accident occurred Sept. 5 when a car turned left in front of the fire engine, forcing the driver of the engine to hit the brakes. The engine struck the first car, skidded across the street and struck a stopped car, then hit a tree.

The city's vehicle maintenance protocol calls for daily checks of each vehicle, but records of such checks were not kept. The city also calls for maintenance every three months, with more comprehensive maintenance once a year, according to The Star. The pumper's manufacturer recommends checking brake performance every three months and servicing brakes every six months.

Kansas City Fire Chief Smokey Dyer said maintenance was deferred because of a shortage of reserve fire apparatus for stations to use while their regular vehicles were serviced, The Star reported. In February 2004, six of the department’s vehicles were damaged in an exchange of gunfire responding to a blaze that left one paramedic shot twice in the chest. Coupled with maintenance problems left over from an ice storm in 2002, the department was performing only the most basic maintenance on its fleet of more than 50 vehicles.

The lack of reserve vehicles would have forced him to close some stations in order to perform maintenance, Dyer told The Star. "I made that decision, and I have to live with that decision. Would I make the same decision today? I don't know. Probably not. ... In this job we make life-and-death decisions and then we have to live with those decisions."

For more information, see “Fire Pumper Brake Work Was Put Off.”