Sedgwick County commission reviews Jensen Hughes post‑incident analysis of Brook Hollow fire

The Sedgwick County Commission on a December 2024 special morning meeting received a post‑incident analysis from Jensen Hughes into the Oct. 13, 2023 Brook Hollow apartment fire in Wichita that resulted in the death of resident Paoli Badesky and injuries to other occupants.

Jensen Hughes was asked by Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita to evaluate how the public‑safety system performed during and after the fire and to recommend system improvements. The final report and a slide presentation were delivered to commissioners at the meeting; the commission voted to receive and file the report.

The consultant team said the analysis found no single point of failure in any of the agencies involved but identified multiple, interacting shortcomings that together “contribute[d] to an unorganized rescue effort.” John Mimoser, senior director for Jensen Hughes, told commissioners: “Jensen Hughes found no single point of failure by any of the agencies involved that could be solely attributed to the fatality of Ms. Badesky.” He added that shortcomings could have affected how quickly searches and rescues were conducted, though the firm did not conclude those shortcomings would have definitively changed the ultimate outcome.

Why the review matters: the report was a joint request by the county and city and—by the consultants’ account—was being reviewed publicly by the commission for the first time at the meeting. It catalogs agency‑by‑agency findings and recommends operational, training and policy changes intended to reduce risk in future structure fires.

Key findings reported to the commission

- Dispatch and audio quality: Jensen Hughes found the Sedgwick County emergency communications dispatcher who took the initial 911 call did not relay the apartment unit number to firefighters. Brian Nelson, who led discussion of dispatch technology, said dispatch audio and headset configuration limited what the dispatcher could hear and that an…