Kansas City Firefighters Were Warned of Explosives

The six firefighters who died in three blasts that rocked a highway construction site had been warned there could be explosives at the scene, transcripts of conversations with dispatchers show.

But fire officials said there were no signs at the site indicating that the ammonium nitrate explosives were contained in the construction trailers that blew up Tuesday.

Two pumper crews were sent to the site in south Kansas City after dispatchers were told that a pickup truck was on fire, and that explosives might also be burning.

The call came at 3:40 a.m. from someone who said the truck was burning. Harold Knabe, the Kansas City Fire Department spokesman, said Wednesday that officials do not know who made that call but that they assume it came from two security guards at the site.

The guards told investigators they had seen prowlers in the area before finding the pickup burning.

As the dispatcher asked questions about the location of the fire, another voice is heard in the background on the tape provided by the fire department, saying: “Oh, the explosives are on fire.”

When the dispatcher asked what was burning, the first voice said: “There’s some explosives up on a hill that I also see now is burning.”

The dispatcher sent a pumper to the scene, with a word of warning of explosives. Capt. James Kilventon Jr. headed the three-man crew that arrived at 3:47 a.m. and immediately asked for another pumper.

Ten minutes later, his pumper told the dispatcher to alert the pumper crew from another station “that there’s the trailer on fire up there, stay away from it.” The crew also asked for a battalion chief, and said, “there’s supposed to be explosives involved in that.”