KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Metro area first responders, firefighters and fellow law enforcement officials are sending their support to the West Peculiar Fire Protection District following the death of a firefighter on Sunday.
Chuck McCormick, 30, died at an area hospital after responding to a house fire on Deer Run Road, just west of Peculiar.
McCormick's death has been felt among all the firefighters who were on scene Sunday.
"Guys are sad that didn’t even know him and never worked with him but knew we had a firefighter that lost his life," said Ron Graham, Grandview fire chief and acting public information officer.
McCormick leaves behind a wife and three children. But McCormick's family has another family at the fire station.
"It is a family," Graham said, "and so there’s firefighters that will take care of her forever. So whatever she needs, her boys need, they will take care of them."
It's a heartbreaking loss in this community, as McCormick died while working in a career he had a passion for.
"Thousand of prayers going towards the wife and kids of Chuck," Graham said, "and hopefully she’ll feel some comfort in that Chuck died doing what he loved to do."
The Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department also expressed its sympathies on social media, along with several others, including the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3808 and IAFF Local 42.
Our hearts go out to the family, friends, and co-workers of the fallen firefighter from West Peculiar. pic.twitter.com/Zebn59XJiq
— KCFD Chief Officers (@IAFFLocal3808) January 5, 2020
The city of Harrisonville, which is less than 10 miles southeast of Peculiar, offered condolences to its neighboring community, sending “thoughts and prayers to the family of our fallen brother and to the entire Peculiar community.”
Our hearts go out to the men and women at West Peculiar Fire Protection District, as one of their own died in the line of duty this afternoon while battling a house fire.
— Harrisonville, MO (@HvilleCityGov) January 6, 2020
We send our thoughts and prayers to the family of our fallen brother & to the entire Peculiar community. pic.twitter.com/eSudrGgK7L
The Raymore Police Department and Riverside Fire Department did the same.
On the Kansas side, the KCK chief of police tweeted condolences to the firefighters on scene, as well as the entire fire protection district. Morris Letcher, public information officer for the KCK fire department, said his department is thinking of its “fallen brother.”
The city of Shawnee and the Lenexa Fire Department also have sent their support to those affected by the loss.
Peculiar is roughly 30 miles south of Kansas City and has a population of 4,608 people.
