When a fire captain came out of the smoky home Sunday, he didn’t have his firefighter with him.
To West Peculiar Fire Chief Bobby Sperry, nothing about the 11 a.m. blaze initially appeared out of the ordinary until that moment, when the captain notified him he had been separated from his firefighter, who was still inside.
The firefighters shifted gears. They went from putting out the house fire to trying to rescue one of their own.
By the end of the day, firefighters in Sperry’s small department in Cass County were mourning the death of 30-year-old Charles “Chuck” McCormick, of Raymore. He died during the blaze, initially thought to have begun in the laundry room, when he fell through the floor of the house in the 23300 block of Deer Run Road in Peculiar, about 35 miles south of Kansas City.
“There’s no amount of experience that prepares you for this,” Sperry said.
Officials continued Monday to investigate what started the fire and how McCormick died.
McCormick joined the West Peculiar Fire Protection full-time just about a month ago. Before that, he worked with the South Metropolitan Fire Protection District and in Belton.
A native of Georgia, McCormick was a husband and the father of three sons ages 5, 6 and 9.
“I count myself lucky to have worked with someone like Chuck,” Sperry said. “They’re all like brothers.”
Within a day of the fire, a verified GoFundMe account was created to raise money for McCormick’s family, the crowdfunding platform said. In a photograph for the fundraiser, McCormick can be seen smiling with his family and holding one of his sons sitting on his shoulders.
“Chucky will be remembered by his amazing personality and contagious positive attitude,” the organizer wrote. “He always had a smile on his face no matter the circumstances.”
As of Monday afternoon, more than 330 people had donated about $20,000.
Clawing through debris
Before firefighters arrived at the home, a family, including a grandmother and her grandchildren, were able to get out of the house.
At the scene, firefighters saw light smoke coming from the home. Two firefighters outside established a water supply. Crews tried from different angles to put out the blaze.
Others went inside.
At some point, crews became separated, Sperry said. A captain notified the chief that he did not have his firefighter. The department called for additional support. They changed their approach from putting out the fire to trying to save McCormick.
Firefighters began searching for McCormick immediately, the chief said. They called for all the resources they could get, including the Kansas City Fire Department. Multiple attempts to remove him from the house were initially unsuccessful, the chief said.
“When you finally figure out that you actually are short one guy, and that he’s still in that fire,” Sperry said, “you’re just focused on getting your crews inside and getting him out.”
Windows were cut to try to get into the home from different spots. They knocked in holes and threw on water.
Grandview Fire Chief Ron Graham said McCormick was critically injured when he fell through the floor. When the first floor gave away, everything went with it into the basement, he said.
Kansas City firefighters arrived with a rescue team and helped initiate a different plan. It was a “long delay” until crews found McCormick, Sperry said.
It appeared firefighters struggled to locate McCormick because a large amount of debris fell on top of him, officials said. It not only hurt McCormick, but it slowed down the rescue time to get him out, Graham said.
Fire crews from multiple agencies spent at least 30 minutes clawing through the debris in an effort to reach McCormick, Sperry said.
Once firefighters found him in the basement, McCormick was taken to Belton Regional Medical Center, where he died.
“He was a great firefighter with experience,” Sperry said.
The fire captain who was with McCormick was taken to the hospital, Sperry said. As of Monday, the chief had not had a chance to talk with the captain about what occurred, he said.
“I know I had a captain come out without his firefighter,” Sperry said. “We’re waiting to see what happened that led to that.”
Asked why firefighters did not attack the blaze from the outside, Graham said they didn’t realize there was “so much fire underneath them.” The only way to really put out a house fire, he said, is to get inside and find the “seed of the fire” and put water on it.
“The problem unfortunately for firefighter McCormick was it took so long to get to him and get him out of that situation,” Graham told The Star. “That was really the issue there.”
‘Surreal to me’
Sperry, who became the chief in May, said he and McCormick worked together prior to joining the West Peculiar department. With 27 years of firefighting experience, Sperry has been to firefighter funerals in Kansas City and buried friends before.
But this was different.
“It’s not the same when it is one of your employees and they work for you and you’re responsible for them,” Sperry said. “I don’t know what to say. It is still kind of surreal to me.”
Officials Monday afternoon transported McCormick’s body across the metro during a procession, according to television helicopters that followed from above. As emergency vehicles drove by, firefighters stood holding their helmets to their chests.
The fire department is now focusing on providing support to McCormick’s family. Other firefighters will get counseling, Sperry said.
Before he worked in Peculiar, McCormick spent time as an Army combat medic, Sperry said. He moved to the area because his wife’s family lives there. He had a calm and soothing personality, said Sperry, who was thrilled to hire McCormick to his department because he thought his experience would rub off on the other firefighters.
Meanwhile, local firefighters are waiting for other agencies to tell them “what went wrong” with the fire and how McCormick died, Sperry said. They hope to learn from McCormick’s death.
“This is the most horrific thing,” Sperry said. “From here I really don’t know where to go. I have to go back and figure out what’s left of my fire department — mentally and physically, how we can move on from here.”
The Missouri State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the fire and asked for assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They wanted “another set of eyes” to figure out what happened and make sure they agreed on their findings, according to John Ham, a spokesperson for the federal agency.
Nothing indicates the fire was deliberately set, Ham said.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is investigating how McCormick died. Sperry said he has read a lot of reports from the agency throughout his years as a firefighter, but he never thought he would be writing his own.
Officials are taking furniture out of the home in the hopes of reconstructing what occurred, Graham said.
“(NIOSH will) tear this down to the last piece, and then they will have a report as to what happened,” Sperry said.
Fire departments across the country and Missouri politicians continued to offer their condolences to McCormick’s loved ones.
“Firefighter Chuck McCormick made the ultimate sacrifice yesterday while battling a house fire,” Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri wrote on Twitter. “We are grateful for all firefighters who run toward danger when the bell rings.”
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