Two-alarm fire damages Kansas City, Kan., hotel

Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at a Kansas City, Kan., hotel west of Interstate 635 Friday morning.

The fire was reported shortly after 8 a.m. Friday at the regency Inn at 4725 State Avenue.

Arriving firefighters reported seeing heavy smoke and flames coming from the two-story section at the west end of the hotel. A second alarm was requested as a precaution because the hotel was occupied.

“We were informed that all of the occupants had evacuated,” said Deputy Chief Craig Duke, the spokesman for the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department. The hotel has 57 rooms, of which 40 were occupied at the time of the fire. No one was injured in the blaze.

“We could see that the fire was mostly up on the second floor in the attic area,” Duke said. Firefighters got up on the roof and broke through the tiled roof and the steel sub-roof underneath.

“As soon as they were able to do that, they were able to get to the seat of the fire and extinguish it,” Duke said.

Most of the damage was limited to the two-story section of the hotel. Fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire. The fire caused an estimated $1.2 million.

This story was originally published March 7, 2014 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Two-alarm fire damages Kansas City, Kan., hotel."