By Assistant Chief Jim Eden
Lee’s Summit Fire Department

On Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 9:01 p.m., the Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 1423 SW 3 Street in the Oaks Apartments. A resident in the building called 911 to report a fire in a neighboring apartment. Evacuation was in progress.

When the fire department arrived, heavy smoke and fire were visible from a three-story, twelve-unit apartment building. The fire from a ground-floor apartment had spread to the second and third-floor balconies above.

Firefighters knocked down the fire on the balconies and entered the well-involved ground-floor apartment. Crews quickly controlled the fire in the apartment and confirmed it was unoccupied. Crews checking the apartments above the fire found one occupant and removed them from the building. There was no fire spread into the other apartments. There were no reported injuries. The fire was out by 9:25 p.m.

The fire damaged the outside of the building and caused extensive damage to the inside of one apartment. The fire appears to have originated in the kitchen; the cause is still under investigation.

The Red Cross is assisting the residents displaced from three of the apartments.