Fire Chief Admits Failures After Family Finds Body in Wellston, MO, Fire

Changes in search operations at fires are being made in Wellston after family members found a body that firefighters didn't.

Mid County Fire Protection District Chief Randell Sanders told KSDK: 
"(It's) very unfortunate that the family was the one that had to find someone. There’s a lot of different emotions that go through your head... being the Chief of the department."

The fire at Wayne Vann's house broke out Feb. 24. Firefighters searched the house for about an hour after a collapse but found nothing.

Crews returned the following morning and searched debris for about 25 minutes before leaving. At some point, a firefighter told a family member they had done their due diligence.

When they still were unable to reach him, Vann's family went into the house to do their own search. Within five minutes, they found him under a layer of debris in his bedroom.

"It's just disheartening. We rely on the police, on the fire department to find our loved ones when we can’t. So if they can’t do their jobs thoroughly, what does that leave us with," Ley Woods, a family member told a reporter.

Sanders said a thermal imaging camera was used but the area was cool which affected its usefulness.

When St. Louis Fire Department didn't have a cadavar dog to send, they didn't pursue getting one.

"We do with the tools that we have available what we can," Sanders said, adding that he may be reaching out to agencies with search dogs. 

"Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, right? So we know at this point that we should’ve searched additional areas of the house. How we handle the search operations themselves, the method we do those, the extent we do those are all lessons we learned from this event." 

Sanders indicated an internal investigation is ongoing. 

A family member claims a firefighter said: "I know when there's a body in there."