Residents are getting a closer look at fire damage to an Overland Park neighborhood.
At least 25 homes in the community were damaged after embers from a nearby apartment fire blew into the neighborhood.
Residents describe "fire raining down"
Witnesses to Monday’s Overland Park fire describe seeing a wall of flames.
“I came out front and all we saw was 200 foot flames just going into the sky. It was unbelievable,” said Indian Creek Park Estates resident Marc Johnson.
Johnson said not long after he heard a loud boom and felt a shockwave.
“After that the sky started turning dark. We looked up and all we saw was fire dropping down,” said Johnson. “It felt like a war zone. I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest with ya. I don’t ever want to see anything like it again.”
Johnson’s wife Traci describes the chaos after.
“All these little fires all over the neighborhood. People were screaming ‘fire!’ Straight out of a movie,” said Traci Johnson.
Though the Johnson’s live nearly half a mile from the origin of the fire at the CityPlace construction site on 116th Terrace, ember’s from the fire, some as large as a standard piece of toast, started igniting yards and roofs nearby.
“It was like little tiny fire bombs everywhere,” said Traci Johnson.
At the home of Cleland Knox, heat from the fire melted parts of the siding from hundreds of yards away.
"I'll never think of fire the same again after this," he said. "I always think of it as something more contained, but now I see it as something that can move and damage far away from the source."
Other residents who spoke to 41 Action News described the terror that was felt in neighborhoods during the emergency.
Tim Alex, who lives a few blocks away from the apartment complex, said the flames could seen from a far distance.
As neighbors raced to get to safety and protect their homes, he saw the back of a pickup truck catch on fire after being hit with embers.
"Looking out the front door, we could see the flames above the homes. They were huge," he explained. "The first thing I saw when turned and looked down the street, a man was walking across the street with his hair on fire."
Despite the chaos and concern during the emergency, Alex described how groups of neighbors rushed to help others in need at the time.
"Looking up and down the street and seeing the little pockets with 30-40 people helping each other, there were pockets like that everywhere," he said.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.
