One dead, nearly 30 displaced following overnight apartment fire in Kansas City
Police are investigating after an apartment fire left one person dead and dozens others displaced early Monday in Kansas City, according to officials.
Two people were taken to the hospital after firefighters were called around 2:30 a.m. to an apartment complex in the 900 block of Benton, said Assistant Chief Jimmy Walker with the Kansas City Fire Department. One was declared dead at the hospital, he said.
Police are now conducting a death investigation, said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department. The department’s bomb and arson detectives are also investigating, she said.
Another person was taken to the hospital because of an unrelated medical emergency, Walker said.
Firefighters helped about a dozen people escape from second and third-story apartments during the blaze, he said.
Walker estimated around 27 people were displaced following the fire. So far, the Red Cross is assisting 23 people impacted by the fire, said Angie Springs, a spokesperson for the organization by providing food, clothing, shelter, assistance with medications and other immediate needs. Springs said the organization expects that number to increase as they get in touch with residents who may have left the scene.
A resident, who wished not to be identified, said she had been living with the man who died for the last few weeks while she saved money for a place of her own.
She had been away dog sitting when she learned of the fire. She rushed back to the apartment building on a borrowed bicycle and saw the man being taken out on a stretcher.
Everything she owned, including her phone and ID, were in the apartment.
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 8:09 AM.
