RV fire in Kansas City left one dead, woman critically injured
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information from the Kansas City Police Department that accurately reflects the victim’s identity.
A woman is dead after a recreational vehicle caught fire Wednesday outside a Kansas City residence.
The Kansas City Fire Department responded to reports of a car fire in the 700 block of Lewis Avenue, just outside Independence, around 4 p.m. on January 21, department spokesperson Michael Hopkins said in a news release.
Responding crews found the RV in a driveway next to a single-story home, with a minor extension connecting the RV to the home, Hopkins said.
Because the RV was connected to the home, crews upgraded the incident to a house fire, Hopkins said, and crews worked on both the RV and residence.
Firefighters entered the RV, where they found a woman thought to be in her mid- to late 50s, Hopkins said. She was taken to a hospital, where she remained in critical condition.
A second individual was found dead in the back of the RV. Fire department officials initially identified that person as a man in his 50s.
But following the investigation, the Kansas City Police Department identified the individual found dead in the RV as 30-year-old Heidi Davis, Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the department, said in an email to a Star reporter on April 7.
KCFD requested the Kansas City Police Department’s bomb and arson unit conduct an investigation into the incident, Hopkins said.
Investigators believed the fire originated from the RV’s floor, near the door towards the vehicle’s front passenger side, Gonzalez said. The police department listed the fire’s cause as “undetermined.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 6:50 PM.
