As of mid-week, four people remained hospitalized from the gas explosion and fire that destroyed JJ’s restaurant on the Plaza. One employee, Megan Cramer, died in the blast, and a memorial service is scheduled for Monday.
A lot of questions still surround how the situation was handled, including the timing of the evacuation and whether the explosion itself could have been avoided. While investigations are ongoing, KCUR’s Elana Gordon reports on how the region’s medical community responded, and how another crisis, the Hyatt Skywalk Collapse in 1981, has helped shape the region’s capacity to respond to large-scale events.