Copper thieves cause delay to fatal crash
A most unusual story. Firefighters in Kansas City, Missouri say they were delayed four to five minutes for an overnight response to a deadly car crash and fire because the alerting system at the firehouse did not work. The reason the CAD failed to alert the station and telephones did not operate is that AT&T’s cables had been cut by thieves looking for copper.
The fire chief does not believe an earlier response to the incident would likley have saved the driver of the vehicle but is certain it would have brought the rescue of the seriously burned passenger minutes earlier.
With the alarm system and phone lines disabled at the fire station, a radio operated back-up alarm alerted firefighters to the call. But first responders had to phone in on their personal cellphones to learn the details.
Berardi wants everyone to know that the few dollars you would get in scrap value for copper cable isn’t worth jeopardizing someone’s life.
A corporate security officer for AT&T told FOX 4 News the copper cables stolen were only worth about $1 in scrap value. But restoring communication services is expected to cost the company more than $1,000.
Tony Rizzo & Glenn E. Rice, The Kansas City Star:
Officials know the thieves struck after 1:30 a.m. because crews at Station 23 at Independence Avenue and Van Brunt Boulevard received a call to respond to a cardiac arrest.
According to AT&T, the damage happened just before 3 a.m. to equipment at East Ninth Street and Elmwood Avenue.
In a written statement, company officials said the theft triggered an alert system. Voice and data services for some customers were affected, although the company did not specify how widespread the problem was.
Berardi said he doesn’t think it would have been possible to save the driver of the car, but he does think the passenger would have received help sooner.
“Certainly that person spent at least four or four and a half minutes inside that car that they likely would have not spent inside that car had those lines not been severed,” Berardi said.
He said the firefighters of Station 23 are in agony about what happened, even though the communications problem wasn’t their fault.
