Three-year-old child dies in Blue Springs apartment fire, two adults injured
A 3-year-old child died and two adults were injured when a fire engulfed a Blue Springs apartment Friday morning, according to Fire Chief Jeff Grote of the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District.
A 911 caller reported the fire shortly before 11 a.m. at the Apple Gate East apartment complex in the 100 block of Vesper Street, which is just east of Missouri 7 and Northwest R.D. Mize Road, Grote told KCTV5.
The first firefighters, who arrived minutes later, reported heavy fire at the back of the apartment building, he said. Crews were able to quickly attack the fire and begin their search.
Initially, firefighters were told there were two children inside, but there was only one. Firefighters found the child dead in the apartment, Grote said. The child was not taken to a hospital.
Two adults were injured in the blaze and were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, he said. Grote did not describe the relationship between the child and the adults.
A witness, who declined to be named, said she heard screaming and looked out the window to see the child’s father pacing back and forth. She then saw the mother “screaming and crying.
“Something told me to go outside immediately,” the witness said. “So I grabbed my hammer out of my tools because I knew they had kids.”
She asked the father if the kids were inside and he replied, “Yes.”
She ran around to the back of the apartment but didn’t try to enter because of the smoke and flames.
“I busted out the window the best I could with my hammer and smoke just came pouring out of the apartment and then the back of the windows exploded,” she said.
The witness, who was in tears, said she did all she could.
“That’s really all I could do because the flames were so,” she said before hesitating. “They were so bad if I would have gone in, I probably would have gone up with it.”
The investigation into the cause of the fire was just getting underway. The Missouri Fire Marshal’s Office was responding to the scene to assist in the investigation because it was a fatal fire, Grote said.
Smoke and fire damaged some of the other units in the building, but the main body of fire was in the back bedroom of the apartment, Grote said.
The apartment has eight units, Assistant Chief Chip Portz, a spokesman for Central Jackson County Fire, said. The fire caused significant damage to one of the units and possibly a second because they share a common attic.
It was unclear if the residents in the units damaged by smoke would be displaced. The American Red Cross was on the scene helping those impacted by the fire, Portz said.
Fire officials were uncertain when the last fatal fire occurred in Blue Springs, saying it has been some time. Such fires obviously have a significant impact on the families involved, but also the fire crews and the community, he said.
“It’s a tough, tough fire,” Portz said.
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 1:24 PM.
