BoCC Statement on the Brookhollow Apartments Fire

(Sedgwick County, Kan.) - Sedgwick County holds public safety as its highest priority. The tragic event that took place on Oct. 13 at Brookhollow Apartments is truly heartbreaking for our community, especially the loss of Ms. Paoly Bedeski, those injured and those directly affected by this event.

The Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has the highest confidence and supports our Emergency Communications system, staff and Director, Elora Forshee. We believe in the work performed by these public servants. They dedicate their lives to serving the people of Sedgwick County.

We value our partnerships with first responder agencies and the municipalities we work with and want to collaborate for the good of our community. Our focus and emphasis at this time is to hear from the 911 Advisory Board, which is made up of leadership from the first responder agencies that use our Emergency Communications system, and to understand their recommendations moving forward. It is our understanding they will meet in the next week to review this incident solely. Sedgwick County leadership supports an independent 3rd party comprehensive analysis that covers the initial call to 911 to the last fire personnel leaving the scene of this incident.

The Sedgwick County Commission will continue to work together with our professional first responder partners to learn from this tragedy and make improvements for the future. Our community deserves this.

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