KANSAS CITY, MO.--A fire in a vacant building in the crossroads Friday night injured one person.
Firefighters responded to the 1900 block on Main street just before 9 p.m.
According to KCFD, the fire broke out in a staircase in the rear of a two-story structure.
A group of homeless people sparked the fire to stay warm, a battalion chief on scene told 41 Action News.
Paramedics took a man to Truman Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries after he jumped from the building to escape the fire.
Another person was rescued by the manager of a German restaurant.
Mark Baltzell, a manager at Affäre, knew something wasn't right as he recycled in the back alley of his restaurant.
"I noticed the back alley was covered in a shroud of black smoke," Baltzell told 41 Action News. "At that time a group of people approached me and asked me if we had a ladder in the restaurant, I rushed inside, grabbed a 12-foot ladder, rushed it over the side of the building where I assisted a lady in getting off the building."
Service on the KC Streetcar was temporarily suspended during the firefighting operations.
KCFD battles fire in downtown KC
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