Mike Kane has been talking about a new fire station in the western Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood of Piper since he was elected to the Board of Commissioners 14 years ago.
But it was his own near-death experience two Halloweens ago that made building the station his mission. “That lit the fire under me to put the fire under the rest of the community,” Kane said.
On Saturday, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas finally broke ground on a $4.3 million fire station at 2913 Hutton Road.
Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Chief Michael Callahan told the crowd of firefighters and residents at the construction site that Fire Station 12 will be the first new fire station built in the city in 18 years.
“And it’ll be the first new fire station built in Piper ever,” Callahan said.
Kane said ambulances got to him in time that October night when he said he “damn near died.”