When two of its firefighters died in the line of duty over the past year, the Kansas City Fire Department did not order or conduct formal after action reviews that the KCFD’s own guidelines suggest should happen following such incidents.
The department confirmed on Tuesday that it conducted no internal review after the drowning death last September of 33-year-old Kyle Brinker. It confirmed a day later that it also did not conduct a review after paramedic Graham Hoffman, 29, was stabbed to death by a patient in the back of an ambulance in April.
Previousy, the department has investigated line of duty deaths due to anything other than job-related health conditions. The department decided that was not necessary for the two most recent fatalities, and a spokesman stressed that while the reviews are suggested as part of the department’s general guidelines, they are not mandatory…