JOHNSON COUNTY - Captain Vernon Collett died in the line of duty on Saturday, March 8, while responding to a natural cover fire.
At 1:45 p.m., the district was dispatched to a reported fast-moving half-acre field fire in the 600 block of NE MM Highway in rural Johnson County. Captain Collett arrived and began extinguishing a fire line when he collapsed.
Despite nearly an hour of lifesaving efforts at the scene, he was tragically declared deceased.
The district announced Collett’s death on Saturday and was met with condolences from other local fire departments and districts. On Monday, the district announced that the United States Fire Administration (USFA) issued a firefighter fatality notification and the flags at the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland, were flown at half-staff in honor of Captain Collett.
District headquarters and Captain Collett's station were both adorned with fire service funeral bunting on Monday, March 10, as the district held a briefing in the aftermath of its first line of duty death in its 46-year history.
JCFPD Fire Chief Larry Jennings said Collett was 60 at the time of his passing and is survived by his father and nephews in the area.
“He was very instrumental in (his nephews’ lives, helped raise them as they grew, and have farmed together for many years and are still very close-knit family,” Larry Jennings said.
Collett served the Johnson County Fire Protection District for 29 years, serving all 29 years assigned to the District’s Station 6 near Valley City. Collet joined the district in 1995, before being promoted to Lieutenant in 1997 and serving as a Captain since January 2011.
Collett was a lifelong resident of Johnson County and attended both elementary and high school in Knob Noster. While he was a volunteer pay-per-call worker at the district, Collett worked at the Johnson County Road and Bridge department.
“Captain Collett was a very unassuming person, both in stature, he was a shorter gentleman, but very fun-loving,” Larry Jennings said. “He was one of those people that would tell you a story and the longer you listen to the story because they did tend to run long at times, the more things you learn.”
Larry Jennings said Collett was never an overbearing leader in the district and encouraged others to follow him.
“When he needed to be the leader, he definitely stepped out of that shell and became the leader,” Larry Jennings said.
Collett was also invested in the district’s employees, especially newer recruits.
“One of his enduring characteristics was he was so invested in our new employees that if we had someone assigned to his station that was new, they're required to go through our recruit training program,” Larry Jennings said. “Captain Collett went through our recruit program numerous times. He would come to the classes with his new assignee to make sure they were learning (and) they knew what was going on so that when they left that recruit training, they were better prepared and worked well with everybody at that station and throughout the district.”
Larry Jennings provided further information on Collett’s death on Saturday.
“At 1:57, Captain Collett arrived on the scene. He was in the general area at the time of the call, so he stopped at the scene to give us a size-up and tell us what was going on,” Larry Jennings said. “He established command and then set out on foot to start suppressing the back side of the fire line, which is a more safe position to be in so you're not in the direction that the fire is traveling.”
Larry Jennings said the first brush unit arrived at 2 p.m. and found Collett collapsed on the edge of the fire scene. CPR was initiated at 2:09 p.m. with three different AED shocks applied as well.
The Johnson County Ambulance District arrived at 2:18 p.m. and also participated in resuscitation attempts.
At 3:03 p.m., Collett was declared dead.
“It is something that has kind of shaken us to our core throughout,” Larry Jennings said. “You always see this on the news, and you always think, that's never going to be us. It now has hit home, and you kind of question what you're doing at times because I am putting myself at risk, but it's a job we accepted.”
The district and the Valley City community are both mourning Collett’s death, according to Larry Jennings.
“We are family here at the fire district. (There are) about 122 people in this district," Larry Jennings said. "We pretty much all know each other, and through our training and various joint exercises, we work together a lot. His family, that community family and our fire family are very deeply impacted by it.”
Larry Jennings said the cause of death is still to be determined by the Johnson County coroner. The district met with the owner of the property where the fire occurred, who said the fire started as a controlled burn.
“He was trying to clear out a fence row so he could put in some new fence. He had done the right things," Larry Jennings said. "He had mowed a fire break on the tall field side of the fence so that he thought he was probably covered. Unfortunately, shortly after he started the fire, the winds picked back up, and it just blew it across his fire break much faster than he could keep up with it.”
The fire and Collett’s death served as a reminder to not burn during dry conditions outdoors.
“This started innocently and it ended tragically,” Larry Jennings said. “What we all need to understand as citizens, whether you're in town, you're in the county, the state of Missouri, right now, we are suffering from extremely dry conditions, and right now we seem to be having many days of high winds. Those two things with low humidity (are) the perfect storm to have things like this that get out of hand so quickly.”
Larry Jennings suggested contacting your local fire department before burning anything outdoors.
District Public Information Officer Joe Jennings provided information on the support the district has brought in and gave an update on Collett’s funeral services.
The Johnson County Volunteer Fire Auxiliary held its annual fundraising event on Saturday. The organization provides support to the fire agencies at scenes of incidents by bringing drinks and food to help support the firefighters.
“The district went there still, and we began the healing Saturday night together at that event,” Joe Jennings said.
Joe Jennings said the district will use its peer support group, along with other fire agencies and resources, to support the mental health of its staff. He also said the Missouri Fire Service Funeral Assistance team and the Supporting Heroes non-profit foundation are on-site and helping the district with planning.
As Collett’s family has requested privacy at this time, the fire district will accept monetary support and provide it to his family on anybody's behalf.
A funeral service will be held on Friday, March 14. The district will start at the Sweeney-Phillips & Holdren Funeral Home for a fire service escort at 9:30 a.m., with the route still to be determined. A visitation and funeral will occur at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively, at the Heartland Church in Knob Noster. A closed graveside service for family, friends and the district will occur at Mt. Zion Church in Dunksburg due to space.
“The service at the church will include full firefighter honors, and the ceremony will include those honors at the church,” Joe Jennings said.
Zach Bott can be reached at 660-747-8123.
