Bright pink Splash of Life building in Kansas City heavily damaged by early morning fire
The bright pink building well-known to residents of Kansas City’s Manheim Park and Hyde Park neighborhoods as “A Splash of Life” caught fire early Friday and was significantly damaged, a fire department spokesman said.
The first firefighters responded to the blaze about 6:50 a.m. and reported heavy fire and smoke coming from the two story building at 4337 Troost Ave., said Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins with the Kansas City Fire Department.
Because the fire was so advanced, firefighters battled the blaze defensively, Hopkins said.
A house to the east of the building caught fire due to the extreme heat from the blaze. Hopkins said that while crews were able to extinguish the fire, the house was also significantly damaged.
Fire crews brought the Splash of Life building fire under control at about 8:45 a.m. and began extensive salvage and overhaul operations to protect the building from further damage and to make sure there were no hidden hot spots or flames. Fire officials ordered Kansas City’s dangerous buildings division to inspect the building.
No one was injured in the fire. Fire inspectors were investigating the cause of the fire.
The building’s owner, Jerry Crowell, had not heard about the fire, saying he hadn’t received any calls or notifications by mid-morning. He speculated that homeless people might have started the fire in an attempt to stay warm, adding that is what caused a previous fire in the building.
The building had been on the city’s dangerous buildings list for years after Crowell bought it in 2008. He uses it as an informal distribution center to the area homeless.
The building has been the subject of complaints from neighbors, and after a January 2021 fire, the city had issued an emergency demolition order. The city said it was removing the building from the city’s dangerous buildings list in 2022 after Crowell made enough renovations, but there were still issues that needed to be addressed, according to city officials at that time.
Equal Minded Café, next door to the pink building, posted to social media that it would be closed Friday due to the fire, along with a plea for help.
“The damage is massive, and this clean-up effort is going to take all of us,” according to a post on the café’s Facebook page.
The café management said in their post that a large part of the building collapsed into the café’s parking lot and needs to be removed by them or Crowell. The building didn’t collapse onto the café. Dumpsters, manpower and other resources will be need to clean up the debris, they said.
The café management also expressed frustrations with the building being on and off the dangerous building’s list for 20 years.
“We need the city to expedite demolition before this turns into an even bigger tragedy,” the café’s post said.
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 12:20 PM.
CORRECTION: This story originally listed the wrong year Jerry Crowell bought the building at 4337 Troost Ave., which became known as “A Splash of Life.” Jackson County real estate records show he bought it in 2013.
