Independence Fire captain seriously burned heads back to work even more determined

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) - Independence Fire Capt. Michael Peacock scrolled through photos of what the helmets and turnout gear looked like after the fire that sent him to the hospital with third-degree burns on his back and arms.

The helmets, once yellow or red, were now black. The ear flaps were torn, burned off. His turnout coat showed burn marks on the inside. Outside, a hole had burned straight through by his left shoulder. It might have burned through more, but his air pack covered the rest.

“When they got the gear test back, they said the temperatures were probably up to 1000 degrees in there,” he said.

He’s had surgeries and skin grafts and is back to fighting fires just three months later thanks to his perseverance, his medical team, and his family.

THE FIRE

The fire call came out on Dec. 22 sending Independence firefighters to a home in Sugar Creek for a mutual aid call. A man was trapped, unconscious, in a back bedroom. One team followed the hose line Sugar Creek had run to the bedroom. Another team went the opposite direction to search the rest of the house. Peacock was in that team of four. What happened next came suddenly.

“Probably 45 seconds in, the house flashed on us,” Peacock described. “When that happens, everything basically catches fire at the same time”

The crew in the bedroom shut the door to keep the fire out. A third crew went to the back of the house and cut open the wall so they could pull the resident out to safety. Peacock and the three other firefighters in his group all suffered burns. His were the worst.

THE TREATMENT

Thursday night, Peacock came to Research Medical Center to see his medical care team at the Grossman Burn Center in a different setting. There was cake and punch.

“They’re not expecting me to take my shirt off and show them my burns and everything. It’s kind of nice,” he joked. “It’s actually a really good chance to see them just as people.”

He and his wife chatted with other burn survivors about the day-to-day. Medical director Dr. Megan Garcia thanked all the patients’ families for what they do: cleaning and dressing wounds between visits, providing emotional support and pushing their loved ones to follow through with their physical rehab.

Garcia said Peacock needed no pushing. He was determined.

“His biggest thing is that he wanted to go back to being a firefighter, and the sooner I can make that happen, the happier he was going to be,” she said.

Peacock’s wife, Jeanne, said she was expecting minor burns on his ears or hands when he called her to the hospital three days before Christmas. She’d seen those before. This was something else.

“Taking him home was scary, like taking home a newborn baby, because it’s a new thing taking care of burns,” she said. “It is a little stressful because you don’t k is what to expect.”

She worried how their kids would react. They ended up taking it I stride.

“It was kind of gross (to them) and kind of cool at the same time to see those burns and how it heals,” Jeanne said. “We got through it and he’s doing great back at work.”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Capt. Peacock has already returned to rushing into burning buildings. He said that moment in December was scary, yes, but it was also an eye-opener.

“It makes you very aware of our protective gear and what everybody else doesn’t have,” he said. “So, that makes you want to work harder as a firefighter to help get them out faster. I think that’s what I took away from it.”

Earlier this month, the man they saved visited one of the crews to say thanks. Peacock had his own thanks to share for the staff at the Grossman Burn Center.

“I cannot thank them enough for how they treated me and my whole family,” he said.

Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.