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Independence, MO —
A cat, a dog, a handful of family photographs and the clothes on their backs.
That was all a mother and three children could take from their 21⁄2-story house when a fire began early Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of South Park Avenue in Independence.
The call came into Independence Fire at 12:29 p.m. Tuesday, with the first unit responding to the scene at 12:32 p.m.
One minute later, Independence Fire responded for additional unit response, and multiple units from across the city responded by 12:42 p.m.
Family members escaped safely and without injuries, said Frank Coots, emergency preparedness manager for the Independence Fire Department and department spokesman.
The cause of the fire was unknown Tuesday evening, and fire investigators were still determining the extent of the damage.
By 3:22 p.m., dispatchers declared the fire had been put out.
After more than an hour, another cat, dripping with water, was recovered safely from the house and was returned to the family.
Family members did not want to talk to The Examiner. The mother did say that the family had support from their neighbors and their church.
“The fire had broken through the roof, the roof had begun to collapse, and we needed additional water on the scene to support the apparatus that were there,” Coots said. “With the heat index being at approximately 104 or 105 degrees, we were rotating through as fast as we could from the fire scene into the rehabilitation center.”
Because of the close proximity of the house to neighboring houses, as well as the dry conditions and the number of trees around the properties, firefighters had to get the fire under control quickly, Coots said.
Had the wind been blowing harder on Tuesday, he added, the department could have faced a situation similar to the fire in the 14800 block of East 44th Street on July 25, which started at one home and also spread to the two houses next door and a patch of the lawn at the house across the street.
“Thankfully, we didn’t have any wind (Tuesday),” Coots said. “Otherwise, it would have been a very similar scene with the dryness of the conditions and such. Without the wind, we were able to keep it knocked down and under control.”
Twenty-five operational firefighters worked the fire, as well as fire prevention personnel who assisted them in the staging and rehabilitation areas. In the rehabilitation area, Emergency Medical Services personnel took the vital signs of firefighters as they rested and drank water and sports drinks. No fire personnel suffered injuries, Coots said.
A cat, a dog, a handful of family photographs and the clothes on their backs.
That was all a mother and three children could take from their 21⁄2-story house when a fire began early Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of South Park Avenue in Independence.
The call came into Independence Fire at 12:29 p.m. Tuesday, with the first unit responding to the scene at 12:32 p.m.
One minute later, Independence Fire responded for additional unit response, and multiple units from across the city responded by 12:42 p.m.
Family members escaped safely and without injuries, said Frank Coots, emergency preparedness manager for the Independence Fire Department and department spokesman.
The cause of the fire was unknown Tuesday evening, and fire investigators were still determining the extent of the damage.
By 3:22 p.m., dispatchers declared the fire had been put out.
After more than an hour, another cat, dripping with water, was recovered safely from the house and was returned to the family.
Family members did not want to talk to The Examiner. The mother did say that the family had support from their neighbors and their church.
“The fire had broken through the roof, the roof had begun to collapse, and we needed additional water on the scene to support the apparatus that were there,” Coots said. “With the heat index being at approximately 104 or 105 degrees, we were rotating through as fast as we could from the fire scene into the rehabilitation center.”
Because of the close proximity of the house to neighboring houses, as well as the dry conditions and the number of trees around the properties, firefighters had to get the fire under control quickly, Coots said.
Had the wind been blowing harder on Tuesday, he added, the department could have faced a situation similar to the fire in the 14800 block of East 44th Street on July 25, which started at one home and also spread to the two houses next door and a patch of the lawn at the house across the street.
“Thankfully, we didn’t have any wind (Tuesday),” Coots said. “Otherwise, it would have been a very similar scene with the dryness of the conditions and such. Without the wind, we were able to keep it knocked down and under control.”
Twenty-five operational firefighters worked the fire, as well as fire prevention personnel who assisted them in the staging and rehabilitation areas. In the rehabilitation area, Emergency Medical Services personnel took the vital signs of firefighters as they rested and drank water and sports drinks. No fire personnel suffered injuries, Coots said.
As they recovered, the firefighters shifted back to the staging area, ready to fight the fire again. One neighbor even brought out granola bars for the firefighters “out of the kindness of their heart,” Coots said.
Five chief officers also responded, including Deputy Fire Chief John Greene and Fire Chief Sandra Schiess. The Independence Police Department provided personnel to support traffic and crowd control.
“We had to ask for mutual aid due to the fact that the number of apparatus that were on the scene,” Coots said. “Sugar Creek, Central Jackson County Fire Protection District, Blue Springs, Fort Osage and Raytown have all provided mutual aid in our stations to make sure that the rest of the city is covered for fire protection. We sincerely appreciate our partners in the fire service stepping up and assisting us.”
