Kansas City, MO, Fire Chief Announces Retirement

Kansas City Fire Chief Ross Grundyson, whose nearly three-year term has been marked by the deaths of two firefighters, lawsuits and felony charges against some in his ranks, will retire in January, he announced Monday in an email to the department.

“I want to share with you personally that I have informed City Manager (Mario) Vasquez and our union leadership of my decision to retire this coming January,” Grundyson wrote in an email addressed to “Dear KCFD Family.”

“Serving as Fire Chief of the Kansas City Fire Department has been one of the greatest honors of my career,” he said. “After thoughtful conversations with my wife, I’ve decided the time is right to pass the torch.”

Grundyson, a 30-year veteran of the department, said his decision “comes with deep gratitude and unwavering confidence in the strength and future of this department.”

“Over the past two and a half years, we have accomplished a great deal together: strengthening our operations, deepening our impact in the community, and raising the standard of service that Kansas Citians rely on every day,” he said. “I could not be prouder of the professionalism, courage, and resilience that each of you bring to this work.”

Grundyson said he’d been asked to be involved in the selection process for the next fire chief.

“City Manager Vasquez is committed to choosing the right leader for this department, and I have every confidence that KCFD’s momentum will only continue to build … Thank you for your dedication, your service, and for allowing me the privilege to lead alongside you,” he said. “It has been my honor to serve with you, and I know the best is yet to come for the Kansas City Fire Department.”

Grundyson was named interim fire chief when Chief Donna Lake retired in January 2023 after a 30-year career with the department. He was later elevated to the permanent position.

Possible candidates for Grundyson’s replacement include Deputy Chief Laura Ragusa, who has a lawsuit pending against the city, and Deputy Chief James Dean.

Ragusa sued the city in February, alleging that Grundyson had discriminated against her after she informed him of what she believed were illegal and unethical practices related to department contracts and reporting requirements for federal reimbursements.

In June, Ragusa was granted permission to amend the suit to include new allegations regarding what she claims are the city’s unfair and discriminatory hiring practices in picking a new fire chief.

Ragusa is the highest-ranking female member of the fire department in uniform. She has applied for the chief job three times since Lake left and said in June that she still had not been interviewed.

Ragusa declined to comment Monday night about Grundyson’s announcement or whether she would seek the position.

Dean, a high-ranking Black officer at the fire department with nearly four decades of experience, in June threatened to sue the city if he was not allowed to compete for the department’s top job.

Ten days after he emailed his threat to seek a court injunction pausing the selection process, city officials reversed course, telling him they would no longer shut him out of the hiring process because he lacked entry-level firefighter certificates that weren’t required when he joined the department.

Dean declined to comment about Grundyson’s announcement when reached Monday night.

Legal challenges

KCFD has been hit with several lawsuits under Grundyson’s term, including those alleging discrimination, retaliation and harassment.

Last fall, a firefighter and paramedic received a $1.3 million settlement from the city to compensate her for years of what she said was mistreatment and abuse from male co-workers and her superiors because she was a woman, a lesbian and older than most of her peers when she graduated from the fire academy at age 40. She had two other discrimination lawsuits heading toward trial when the Kansas City Council approved the settlement agreement, the largest settlement in city history for a discrimination case involving the fire department.

In February 2023, firefighter Dominic Biscari was charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a December 2021 crash in which he drove a pumper truck at full throttle through a red light in a busy Westport intersection. The firetruck hit several cars and a pedestrian before slamming into a building, causing it to collapse.

Three people died as a result of the crash. Biscari, 21 at the time, was assigned to desk duty at fire department headquarters immediately after the wreck. Six months later, with no charges yet filed, the city and the union agreed to let him return to full duty as a firefighter, but he was prohibited from driving a fire truck.

After he was charged in 2023, Biscari immediately pleaded guilty, avoiding a jury trial in which he faced the possibility of being convicted and sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. A judge instead sentenced him to three years’ probation and 40 hours of community service.

The fire department then suspended Biscari without pay, and Grundyson said he would seek Biscari’s termination. The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 42, which represents KCFD employees with the rank of captain or below, filed a grievance to block Biscari’s termination, and an arbitrator ruled in Biscari’s favor in March 2024, saying he deserved no more than a three-day unpaid suspension for causing the fatal crash.

The arbitrator also ordered the city to pay Biscari back wages and benefits as well as the legal costs that Local 42 accrued in pursuing the grievance. And the arbitrator directed the city to wipe Biscari’s personnel record clean of any reference to the crash.

The city, which has paid out $3.6 million in settlements to the families and loved ones of the deceased and the owner of a building that was damaged in the crash, appealed the arbitrator’s decision, alleging that he exceeded his authority. The appeal has been the subject of court action ever since, with a proposed $915,000 settlement rejected by the City Council in May.

Deaths of firefighters

Grundyson also has had to deal with the loss of two firefighters who died in the line of duty in the past year.

In April, firefighter paramedic Graham Hoffman, 29, died after being stabbed in the chest in the back of an ambulance while transporting a patient to a hospital on what started as a medical call from the police.

And in September 2024, Kyle Brinker, 33, drowned during an annual swim test at the swimming pool at the Gladstone Community Center. The Star revealed the cause of death last month after obtaining the autopsy report. The fire department had previously withheld that information, stating only that Brinker died after suffering “a medical emergency during a training exercise.”

The department typically discloses the circumstances of a line of duty death when it occurs. But KCFD continued to refuse to disclose the nature of the emergency or what the training entailed even after the City Council approved a $1.1 million workers’ compensation payout in August to settle a claim that Brinker’s wife had filed after his death on the job.

According to the autopsy, Brinker was pulled from the pool after he was observed suffering cardiac arrest and then being submerged for 30 seconds. The Star further reported that firefighters at the scene did not have advanced life saving equipment on scene, which might have aided in their resuscitation efforts.

In a statement days later, Grundyson said the rescue division firefighters who tried to resuscitate Brinker “not only met but exceeded” the standards for that care set out by the National Fire Protection Association.