KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Several Overland Park and Lenexa fire crews battled a fire Friday afternoon at an apartment building.
Crews were originally dispatched just before 3:50 p.m. to the Highlands Apartments in the 8000 block of Farley Street. Additional crews were called out several minutes later.
When crews arrived, they reported heavy smoke from a two-story, multi-unit apartment.
Crews initially used an offensive attack on the building and worked to clear the building. No one was injured in the fire.
While working to put out the fire, crews began to see a ceiling collapse and the fire broke through the roof of the building.
Crews then retreated from the structure and they shifted to a defensive fire attack.
It took about an hour for crews to get the fire under control.
Thirteen people from seven units were displaced and the building is likely a total loss.
After an investigation from the Overland Park Fire Department, the fire is believed to be accidental and caused by the "careless discard of smoking materials."
"It’s believed smoking materials improperly discarded on a second story balcony burned in a void space and spread to the building’s attic, where it burned undetected until residents heard noises in the attic and called 9-1-1," the release said.
Drone video captured by KSHB 41's Matt Kline shows the entire top floor of the apartment building completely exposed to the elements after the fire was extinguished.
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