Firefighter Robert D. McKarnin

Last Call: Tue, Nov 29th, 1988

Date of Incident: Tue, Nov 29th, 1988

Cause of Death: Explosion (Intentional)

Service Time: 20 years

Age: 42

Survivors

His wife Deborah, and two children.

Incident

Shortly after they arrived on the scene at a highway construction site, six Kansas City firefighters died when two burning trailers loaded with several thousand pounds of a highly volatile ammonium nitrate/fuel oil mixture exploded. Along with Firefighter McKarnin, Captain James Kilventon Jr., Captain Gerald Halloran and Firefighters Thomas Fry, Luther Hurd and Michael Oldham also died in the blast. In July of 1997, a jury convicted five individuals of setting the fire that caused the explosion. All five were sentenced to life in prison.