Kansas firefighters union advocating for staffing increase alleges government violated free speech

The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 64 is suing the Unified Government of Wyandotte County over alleged free speech violations rooted in understaffing issues at the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department. Attorneys for the union and the government appeared on Aug. 12, 2026, at a Kansas federal courthouse, which appears here in April 2025 in Topeka. (Photo by Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — A Kansas firefighters union and county government are “at loggerheads with each other,” a federal judge said Wednesday, complaining they threw the case at him to solve after months of conflict.

The Kansas City, Kansas Professional Firefighters Association’s lawsuit against the Unified Government of Wyandotte County was filed against the backdrop of a December fire that left four firefighters with second- and third-degree burns. A federal agency investigated the incident, finding that one of the factors that contributed to the injuries was understaffing. 

The union said its members had been trying to speak about inadequate staffing levels with the Unified Government’s board of commissioners, which was also named in the Aug. 4 lawsuit, and public safety committee, but the Unified Government “repeatedly quashed these requests, falsely claiming that state law forbids the union from speaking to elected officials about issues affecting the KCKFD,” the lawsuit said.

The Unified Government forbade union representatives from speaking at monthly public safety committee meetings, which the union said violated its members’ First and 14th Amendment rights.

The Unified Government argued the union was subverting its shared collective bargaining agreement, which includes a minimum staffing requirement.

In August 2024, the Unified Government’s board of commissioners approved a revenue-neutral budget for 2025 that reduced staffing on ladder trucks and other equipment from four to three. The National Fire Protection Association’s standard is a minimum of four firefighters. 

About 3:45 a.m. on December 29, 2025, the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department responded to a fire at an abandoned house. The house’s first floor collapsed, and four firefighters fell through, into the basement, where the fire had likely been burning for “an extended time,” according to a federal investigation. One firefighter was trapped from the waist down and screamed for help, according to the federal report. The first to fall in tried to radio “mayday” but wasn’t readable, according to the federal report. 

The four were rescued and hospitalized, and they survived with second- and third-degree burns and minor injuries.

The investigation from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that eight factors contributed to the career firefighters’ injuries.

“Responding units faced two of the most dangerous types of structure fires. A below grade fire combined with an abandoned structure significantly raises the life safety risk to firefighters,” a report published in April said.

Among the factors were communication errors, risks associated with fires in abandoned structures and inadequate staffing.

The firefighters union homed in on the inadequate staffing factor in its efforts to persuade the Unified Government to modify its budget and increase fire department staffing levels. The union asked to appear on the public safety committee’s agenda instead of speaking during the designated, time-limited public comment period, which the Unified Government denied. The government’s attorney said union representatives can’t communicate directly with elected officials about topics subject to bargaining. 

Attorneys for the union want a federal judge to grant them a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which could force the Unified Government to allow union representatives to speak at public meetings before the Unified Government finalizes its budget in September. 

Jake Miller with Kansas City-based firm Grissom and Miller and Tamara Imam with a Washington, D.C.-based labor law firm are representing the union, and the Unified Government is represented by Ryan Denk. 

U.S. District Court Judge Toby Crouse criticized the union’s attorneys at a hearing Wednesday for failing to notify the Unified Government’s attorney that they were filing a request for a temporary restraining and preliminary injunction, noting that lawyers typically “have the courtesy to pick up the phone and have a conversation.”

Denk said Wednesday the Unified Government would try to get the case dismissed. 

He said in a Tuesday court filing that before the lawsuit, union represented didn’t respond to a written offer to coordinate a private meeting with a designated Unified Government official.

Counsel wrote in a May 12 letter to the union: “If you would like to schedule a formal meet and confer session, please let us know and we will proceed with scheduling the same.”

“The Unified Government never received a response to this letter and the plaintiff never requested to meet and confer relating to the subject of staffing,” the court filing said. “Rather, the plaintiff waited three months and then filed a lawsuit along with a request for an emergency TRO due to the timing of the last Public Works and Safety Subcommittee meeting.”

The timing, Denk said, was driven by the union’s failure to meet and confer with the Unified Government in private.

Crouse said the parties were “throwing” the case at him after they’ve been in conflict for months. 

“I’ve got to deal with it,” he said, and, he added, “I don’t know half of what you know.”