An investigation into a fatal fire last year found that Wichita and Sedgwick County emergency agencies executed an “unorganized rescue effort” that shed light on “systematic shortcomings.”
The fire led to the death of 22-year-old Paoly Bedeski, who called the Sedgwick County Emergency Communications Center minutes before firefighters arrived on the scene at Brookhollow Apartments, near Rock and Central, in October 2023.
“Had these significant shortcomings not occurred, it would have provided Ms. Bedeski with a better chance of early rescue and subsequent increased potential at survival,” said John Mammoser, Midwest director at safety consulting firm Jensen Hughes.
The firm presented its findings on Monday to the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita City Council.
Last December, the Wichita firefighters’ union claimed Bedeski would likely be alive if dispatchers had appropriately informed them of her situation. Bedeski was trapped inside her apartment, but firefighters – unaware of this or her location – did not recover her until more than 20 minutes after her 911 call.
But Jensen Hughes said a multitude of factors led to Bedeski’s death, both with the communications center and the Wichita Fire Department.
In addition, unique conditions worsened circumstances, including strong winds, combustible stairway construction and Bedeski retreating to her windowless bathroom during the fire.
911 center response
The report shows that a staffing shortage at the 911 center and a lack of knowledge on how to properly upgrade a dispatch call contributed to the incident’s severity.
The dispatcher who took Bedeski’s call had a difficult time hearing the apartment number she was in, which contributed to the delay in finding her.
Sedgwick County dispatchers utilize a dual headset, with one side playing first-responder radio traffic and the other bringing in 911 calls. This can make it difficult for dispatchers to adequately hear a caller.
Jensen Hughes staff said the dispatcher did not utilize a feature to play back Bedeski’s 911 call, which could have improved efforts to save her life.
Sedgwick County is working to separate call takers and dispatchers. Brian Nelson, a public safety information technologist who spoke during the presentations, said this is a smart move, given the size of Sedgwick County.
“You can't support a call taker-dispatch model,” Nelson said. “... I have not seen in my experience of 30 years in public safety where a dispatch center uses two headsets.”
Fire department response
Jensen Hughes’ report discovered that, despite an adequate number of firefighters on the scene, the department conducted an uncoordinated search and rescue effort, worsened by an ineffective command and control hierarchy.
“So many policies were not followed; so many important fire ground command and control functions that are baseline were freelanced, distracted, not well communicated,” Jensen Hughes fire expert Vernon Champlin said.
The report also says the fire department “appears to lack an emphasis on self-reflection and accountability within its culture,” which may contribute to difficulties with fatality prevention.
“In the fire service, we are the ultimate adapters and overcomers. And sometimes, adapting and overcoming gets the job done, but it creates a pattern of … ‘We’ll just do it ourselves. Everybody else is wrong, and only we know,’” Champlin said.
Moving forward
Jensen Hughes’ report recommends Wichita and Sedgwick County work to address underlying issues among different agencies to promote trust and collaboration.
“The path forward with Sedgwick County, the City of Wichita and the other local public safety agencies is putting aside differences, working together to develop a working and strong trusting relationship, and rebuild(ing) the trust of the citizens that you all serve,” Mammoser said.
Wichita Fire Chief Tammy Snow shared some steps the fire department and other entities are taking to improve culture.
“(We) started a … program in which we’ve allowed some exposure to each other at our field level. We also started meeting on a weekly basis with our field supervisors and (other agencies’) supervisors,” Snow said. “... It’s been phenomenal and opened up tremendous lines of communication.”
Though Sedgwick County EMS and the Wichita Police Department were not as intimately involved in the incident last October, Jensen Hughes said greater collaboration between these and other local entities could improve emergency response.
The firm also recommended the city and county reach out to other metro areas nationwide.
“Find out what other people are doing, and see if your system could learn something from that system,” Mammoser said.
