Report Critical of Kansas LODD

(AP) TOPEKA, Kan.

A new report is critical of the Topeka Fire Department in the death of Capt. Tony Cox.

The Topeka Capital-Journal is reporting on its Web site that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health released a report Friday that suggested shortcomings in department policy.

It found that the department failed to ensure that Cox underwent medical evaluations during the last three years of his life. Cox was 44 when he died in August 2007 of heart disease aggravated by extreme heat while fighting a fire.

The report said that Cox carried out his responsibility to ensure the firefighters he supervised undergo such examinations. But Cox failed to schedule his own physicals.

The report found that the fire department "lacked a system to identify firefighters not completing their medical evaluations."

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