Fire trucks sustain heat damage battling Overland Park fire

FOX 4 News – March 23, 2017




The collateral damage from the cityplace fire -- includes the fire equipment.


Overland Park ladder truck Q-42 has blistered paint and melted lights. The truck got so hot that the apparatus operator couldn't touch the metal or get down.


Firefighter Stan McDonald was on Q-42 and said the heat was something he has never experienced before.


"Standing back it was like an extreme sunburn, the heat was unreal. You are in your gear, you've got your hoods on, your helmet on, and you can still just feel the heat penetrating, so at that time you have to move. All of the other trucks that were right around us, several of them sustained damage as well," McDonald said.


Lenexa Fire's new ladder truck also suffered damage, including equipment inside the truck melting from the heat.