KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Inter City Fire Protection District says two buildings were destroyed and four damaged in an overnight fire which they’re investigating as arson.
Fire crews were called to the area near East 20th Street and Spring Avenue at about 2 a.m.
Fire Chief Jeff Jewell says he believes someone intentionally set this fire and two others earlier in the evening. The fire department responded to several other suspicious fires over the past few weeks.
The fire protection district contacted the State Fire Marshal to begin an investigation. The Independence, Missouri, Fire Department assisted with initial fire control.
The block of Spring Avenue was evacuated due to the fires. Residents have since been given the OK to return to their homes.
No one was hurt in the fires.
“You wake up at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Penny Creason said, described waking up to firefighters at her door. “We have a baby, she’s scared to death, we have to load her in the car and find the dogs, and you’re rushed off and you don’t even know if you have a home to come back to.”
Heat from the fire melted the siding of Creason’s home.
Half of the mobile homes damaged or destroyed by the fire were abandoned. Creason says the abandoned homes are part of the problem. She suspects whoever started the fire may have been living in one of the homes illegally. Creason complained about the lack of streetlights and police presence in Blue Summit
“We don’t have enough patrol around here to protect us,” she said.
Chief Jewell said he asked the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to patrol the area after discovering evidence of arson at the second fire of the night. He said high wind and dry brush helped fuel the fire.
“Because of these winds tonight, we literally could’ve burned down a whole block,” Jewell said. “Scary situation.”
The arson investigation will take days.
