Last month, the Kansas City Council refused a payout to the firefighter who blew through a red light in Westport, killing three people.
The crash, and the legal battles that followed, garnered extensive media attention — but it’s far from the only crash in a Kansas City Fire Department vehicle. In a 36-month period between late 2019 and early 2023, the Kansas City Fire Department was involved in 18 crashes and paid out $6.5 million in legal claims, according to city documents obtained with the Missouri Sunshine Law.
More than two-thirds of that went toward claims around the 2021 pumper truck crash.
The National Fire Protection Association says fire truck drivers “shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop” at any stoplight or stop sign, any blind intersection or any intersection where the driver can’t see all lanes of traffic.
Although the city settled with the families of the three victims, the case continues. The firefighter who drove the truck, Dominic Biscari, pleaded guilty in 2023 to three counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years probation. He was fired but an arbiter reversed that, ruling the city violated the union contract. The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42 sued the city and Biscari was set to receive a $915,000 settlement, which a city council committee rejected in May.
Six months before that crash, another KCFD truck went through a red light at NE 96th Street and North Oak Trafficway. That truck also had its lights and siren going when it T-boned a car driven by Huda Saad, who was 79 at the time. She was critically injured and needed surgery to her back, jaw and heart, according to a lawsuit. That crash cost the city $488,755.
The city also paid $985,000 to settle a November 2020 crash where a KCFD truck hit two cars near 39th and Benton Boulevard. Again, the truck was heading to a call with its lights and siren going. The driver went through a red light but “he did not see either vehicle” before entering the intersection, according to the police report.
KCFD has been criticized in legal filings and by people involved in crashes for inadequately training drivers. One of the Westport lawsuits accused the department of “entrusting its vehicle to an individual who it knew or should have known had inadequate experience, training and knowledge to safely operate the vehicle.”
Three weeks ago, KCFD announced a new, more rigorous training program for fire truck drivers. Deputy Chief Steve Shaumeyer, who oversees professional development for the department, said the new training simply meets new national standards and is not tied to the legal settlements.
“This is part of our total redesign of our professional development,” he said.
A study from the Iowa College of Public Health showed fire trucks are involved in far fewer crashes than police vehicles, but the collisions are more serious because of their size. A study of law enforcement crashes in California found that police simply drive more than firefighters and ambulance crews. “While the latter may also travel at high speeds and legally violate roadway rules in response to emergency calls, they do not engage in routine patrol like officers that results in further collision risk exposure,” according to the 2016 study.
