Fire engulfs, destroys a large horse stable, damages arena in southern Overland Park
Fire investigators continue to work to identify what caused a two-alarm blaze that destroyed a large horse stable and damaged a connected arena in southern Overland Park, a spokesman for the Overland Park Fire Department said Monday.
Investigators believe the fire was accidental and have narrowed down the potential causes, said Jason Rhodes, media manager for the Overland Park Fire Department. They were working to rule out remaining possibilities before determining what started the blaze.
All the horses were evacuated before firefighters arrived, although one animal had minor burns. No one else was injured in the blaze, he said.
The fire was reported just after 4 p.m. Sunday in the 12600 block of West 183rd Street. Arriving firefighters reported heavy smoke and fire coming from the stable and arena. Firefighters attacked the blaze on the east side of the building where the stables were located, Rhodes said.
Due to the size of the fire and the hot and humid weather conditions, a second alarm was sounded to bring additional firefighters and equipment to the scene. Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours to bring it under control.
Getting enough water to the fire proved challenging for the fire crews, Rhodes said.
“The further south you get, sometimes you will run into infrastructure issues,” he said. “They just had to do some extremely long hose lays to get to available hydrants and of course the property had a fairly long drive off the main roads just to get back to the buildings too.”
It takes a lot of manpower to run large diameter hoses over such long distances, he said. It’s physically demanding and labor intensive work.
The blaze completely destroyed the stables. Meanwhile, the arena suffered moderate fire and smoke damage.
Firefighters from Overland Park, Olathe and Johnson County Fire District No. 1 battled the blaze.
