By Assistant Chief Jim Eden
Lee’s Summit Fire Department

On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at 2:17 p.m., the Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded to a structure fire in the 200 Block of NE 1st Street. A painter working on the home reported that the outside of the house was on fire.

When the fire department arrived, light smoke was visible from the eaves of a two-story, single-family residence under renovation. Everyone working or living in the house was outside.

The occupant and others were using a heat gun and a scrapper to remove caulking from the soffits and noticed embers float up into the eaves, and a few minutes later, smoke was coming from a gap at the top of the wall.

Firefighters used saws to open the walls inside and outside the house to get to the fire between the first and second floors. The home’s age and type of construction can allow the fire to spread rapidly. Firefighters were able to contain the fire before it could spread to the attic or inside of the house. The incident was under control by 2:53 p.m.

The fire was contained to a portion of the outside wall between the first and second floors. There was minor smoke damage to the inside of the house and the openings made in the wall to get to the fire.

The cause of the fire was embers created from using the heat gun that ignited nearby combustibles.