Boone County Assistant Fire Chief Killed While Responding to I-70 Crash

A Boone County assistant fire chief responding to a crash on Interstate 70 east of Columbia on Wednesday morning was killed after a tractor-trailer hit his truck at a high speed, the Boone County Fire Protection District confirmed.

Bryant Gladney was extricated and shortly thereafter pronounced dead at University Hospital, Fire Chief Scott Olsen said during a news conference Wednesday.

It marks the first line-of-duty death in the history of the fire district.

Gladney worked 25 years for the district and oversaw training within the organization.

"Today is a very sad day for the Boone County Fire Protection District," Olsen said.

Gladney was assisting with the original crash involving an overturned commercial box truck around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday on westbound I-70 before Exit 133 (Route Z/Rangeline Road) at mile-marker 135.4. He was at the scene with other fire district units and a University Hospital ambulance, said Gale Blomenkamp, assistant fire chief and the district's public information officer.

The box truck had been traveling eastbound but crossed over the center line, Blomenkamp said, in a "high-mechanism accident" that left it on its side and obstructing westbound traffic. Gladney was helping direct traffic away from the incident when a tractor-trailer traveling westbound struck his truck before also hitting the ambulance and the vehicle involved in the original crash.

Gladney was positioned behind where the original accident occurred, slowing down traffic and diverting drivers to a lane that was not blocked, Blomenkamp said.

"(The westbound semi) was not slowing down at the time of the accident and struck him at highway speed," Blomenkamp said.

No other first responders on the scene were injured, Olsen said, nor was anyone involved with the original crash.

Westbound lanes remained closed through the morning commute for the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate. Traffic was diverted at Exit 137 (Route J) to access Columbia via Route WW, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. The passing lane reopened around 10 a.m., the highway patrol reported.

Bryant, who lived near where the incident occurred, responded because it was in his "first-due" response area within the fire district's regular procedure, Blomenkamp said.

Bryant's body has been transported to the Boone County Medical Examiner's Office as the highway patrol continues its investigation, Blomenkamp said.

"We move on with a lot of assistance from our partners," an emotional Blomenkamp said of where the fire district goes from here. "The Columbia Fire Department is helping us right now covering the east side of our fire district. They staffed an extra unit out of Station No. 5 and they're covering calls for us at this point.

"We have a job to continue to do for our citizens, but we also need to start taking care of each other."

©2021 www.columbiatribune.com. Visit columbiatribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.