CLAY COUNTY, Mo. — Heavy smoke and fire could be seen for miles in Smithville and Kearney as firefighters battled a large-scale house fire in rural Clay County.
The fire was reported just after 5 p.m. near Northeast 132nd Street and North Eastern, just outside of Kansas City.
“I thought it was a tire fire or something. It was so dark, it was so big,” said Dan Halligan, who witnessed the smoke a couple miles away. “The house is completely gone.”
Fire crews from Smithville and Kearney responded to the fire, running back and forth from the scene to cart in more than 30,000 gallons of water.
“This area has no fire hydrants so we’ve had to haul in water from a mile away,” said Dave Cline, acting fire chief of Smithville-area Fire Protection District.
A man who was inside the home at the time told 41 Action News off-camera he first saw the flames out back. According to the man, the grill and turkey-fryer outside was heating up. He believes that is where the fire began.
Firefighters will continue to investigate the cause. The Red Cross is helping the man who lived at the home.
