October 20, 2021

By Assistant Chief Jim Eden

LEE’S SUMMIT, MO— On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 8:24 a.m. the Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire in the 500 Block of NE Churchill Street. A neighbor reported black smoke coming from the windows and roof of the fourplex.

When the fire department arrived, heavy smoke was coming from the back of a two-story fourplex. The occupants of the adjacent units were outside, but it was not known for sure if the involved unit was occupied.

Fire crews entered the smoke-filled building and knocked down the fire in the kitchen and living room as other crews searched the building and confirmed it was unoccupied. Investigation of the adjacent units found smoke but no fire. A dog was removed from unit 502. The fire was under control by 8:58 a.m.

The fire heavily damaged the first-floor kitchen of unit 500, with extension into the second-floor bedroom along with significant heat and smoke damage throughout the unit. There was minor damage to the shared wall between units 500 and 502. Smoke damage to the other adjacent units varied.

The fire appears to have originated in the kitchen of unit 500. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Two units of the fourplex were able to be reoccupied after the incident.