It's no secret that firefighters save lives during a fire. But they also save lives before a fire ever breaks out.
"There were some absolute heroes on the fire department on the night that this happened that went in there and were able to save some lives," said John Ham, a senior investigator with the ATF.
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Some, however, is an understatement. Raytown's firefighters saved dozens of lives in Sunday morning's fire.
"There is little question in the early interviews that we have done that fire protection, going into the schools and teaching kids what to do when there is a fire, saves some lives in this thing," he said.
If you factor in the lives they've saved due to their educational efforts over the years, the number becomes uncountable.
"Without that, this certainly would've had a bigger body count unfortunately than it does today," explained Ham.
The reason? A family-friend told 41 Action News that fire victim Jeremiah Roberts' older brother escaped the fire after learning what to do in school.
"One of the things that children tend to do is hide from danger," said Battalion Chief Mike Hunley with the Raytown Fire Department. "That's one of the first things that we teach them is that that's not an effective tactic to use in a fire because you can't hide from a fire."
It's a lifesaving lesson the Raytown Fire Department will continue to teach to students, be they young or old.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
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