MO Firefighters Rescue Group Trapped by Cave Fire

Eight people who crashed their vehicle trying to escape a fire in a Kansas City storage cave were rescued by fire crews that were on the scene until early Sunday afternoon nearly a full day later.

Intense smoke in the Interstate Underground Warehouse & Distribution trapped the workers inside and also made it hard for firefighters to get to the fire, Kansas City Fire Department Deputy Chief James Dean told reporters Saturday night.

The trapped workers were rescued without serious injury from the cave warehouse at 8201 E. 23rd Street, Dean said. Two workers were treated at Truman Medical Center for smoke inhalation.

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“The challenge is that the way you go in is the same way the smoke and fire is coming out,” Dean said. “That is going to tax the firefighters going inside to perform their operations and rescue those in need of assistance.”

More than 50 firefighters came to what was a two-alarm fire, he said. The first call came about 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Crews had to link pumper trucks together to get a stream of water on the fire that Dean said was about a quarter of a mile inside the cave.

The rescued workers had driven about an eighth of a mile when they crashed inside the cave and were unable to find their way out due to smoke.

Firefighters working the blaze were wearing oxygen tanks and rotating in and out as they fought the fire, Dean said. Large fans were brought in to help ventilate.

“It required an extensive operation,” he said.

Interstate Underground Warehouse provides storage for many businesses inside a renovated 236-acre cavern left from limestone mining.

The caves are in a confined area with a lot of compacted materials, Dean said on Saturday, “and it takes time to extract smoke and to make sure it is fully extinguished.”

The firefighters’ work continued into the early afternoon on Sunday. Security at the warehouse late Sunday afternoon said the facility was still closed by the fire department.

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