Blue Summit, Missouri

Blue Summit is an unincorporated community logded between Kansas City and Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, United States.

Blue Summit's most recent population census was approximately 1,000 residents. It is protected by the Inter City Fire Protection District, a combination fire department that provides fire protection and emergency medical services. Blue Summit is an older community dating back into the 1930s and used to be remarkable larger, but has been reduced in size due to annexations by the cities of Independence and Kansas City. In the 1950s, up until the late 1970s, Blue Summit was an official city, and even had their own police department, located at the corner of E. 19th St. & Laurel Ave. This building later became Station #1 for Inter City Fire Protection District. In the late 1970s, Blue Summit was forced to unincorporate due to financial reasons, becoming, once again, the township of Blue Summit. Today, Blue Summit is still a thriving, close knit community with a population of approximately 1000 people, and an estimated 6,000-8,000 commuters every day. Blue Summit has around twenty businesses, including several gas stations, a pipeline management company, and many others. Blue Summit is now under the jurisdiction of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, however, Kansas City Police Department and Independence Police Department often assist in responding to high priority calls when a deputy is too far away. The Inter City Fire Protection District is in charge of protecting the Township of Blue Summit in the event of Fire, Rescue, EMS, and Haz-Mat related incidents. In late 2012 the Inter City Fire Protection District began running their own ambulance service, and now has 1 Advanced Life Support Unit and 1 Basic Life Support unit staffed 24/7, along with their 2 Engine companies, 2 Squad companies, and 1 Tanker company. Also at the end of 2012 the Inter City Fire Protection District transitioned from an exclusive volunteer department to a combination department, with 3 full-time paid members, 7 part-time paid members, and 15 volunteers. All of the paid personnel are required to have all certifications required to be a firefighter in the State of Missouri, including Firefighter I&II, EMT-B license, Haz-Mat Awareness and Operations, and a current CPAT. Several ICPFD personnel are, or are in school to be EMT-Paramedics, Fire Officer I&II, EMT & Paramedic Instructors and Haz-Mat Technicians and Specialist. Inter City Fire Protection District's latest ISO (Insurance Safety Office) rating for fire protection was Class 4, and Inter City's EMS was recognized by MEMSA and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, and has been published in the Missouri Firefighter's Association Magazine. Blue Summit, as a result, has also be recognized as a registered Heart Safe community, and is currently working on a Storm Ready Community certification, as well as the famous All-American City Award. To better serve the community of Blue Summit, Inter City Fire Protection District launched a storm spotters program, led by Capt. Mason Tompkins, IFPCD's D shift Captain. The Inter City Storm Spotters are certified through the NOAA and the National Weather Service, and currently have three members that are also firefighters for the district. The Inter City Fire Protection District runs on average 3 calls for service a day, and several weeks ago, set a record for calls at Inter City for running 7 calls within a four hour period. Like other fire agencies, Inter City's calls are 97% EMS related, the other three percent consisting of fire, rescue, and Haz-Mat related incidents.