WELLSTON, Mo. — A Wellston family is demanding answers after finding their loved one’s body inside a burned home that fire officials had repeatedly told them was empty.
The discovery of 71-year-old Wayne Vann comes two days after a fire on Feb. 24 at a home on Ogden Avenue in Wellston, KSDK reported. His family is now questioning how thoroughly the house was searched in the aftermath of the blaze.
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The Army veteran lived alone, and relatives say Mid County Fire Protection District crews told them no one was inside as firefighters battled heavy flames.
Fire Chief Randell Sanders said crews pulled out after about six minutes because the roof collapsed and the fire was too advanced.
“They assured me that they had already checked the house and there was no body in the house,” Rolanda Crews, Vann’s niece, told KSDK. “It just didn’t sit right with us this morning so we got up, came up as a family and did our own due diligence and this is what we found.”
The family says they were told cadaver dogs would be used to assist with a search on Feb. 25, but they said that never happened. Sanders confirmed that while crews were called back to the scene, a cadaver dog was not available.
Frustrated, the family went into the burned home on Feb. 26 and found Vann’s body within minutes under debris in his bedroom.
“If they can’t do their jobs thoroughly, what does that leave us with?” Ley Woods, another of Vann’s nieces, said. “Are they trained to actually find people and do their jobs the way we expect them to, or do we have to do it ourselves?”
Chief Sanders issued a statement to KDSK:
“Our crews made every effort to search for victims during initial operations, unfortunately, the fire was too far progressed by the time firefighters arrived for our crews to be able to make a rescue. Crews remained on scene for approximately an hour after the extinguishment of the fire to search the residence again. A family member arrived on scene after the incident and advised he was commonly not at the residence and stays at multiple locations...”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
