‘Particularly heinous’: Kansas City building fire that injured 15 was arson, ATF says
Federal agents have determined that a large residential building fire that sent more than a dozen people to the hospital early Friday morning was set on purpose, according to a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.
John Ham, public information officer for the ATF’s Kansas City Field Division, said Friday afternoon that the presence of an accelerant had been discovered near the inside stairwell of the three-story apartment building at the Stonegate Meadows apartment complex. Burn patterns there also indicated the fire was arson, Ham said.
Fifteen people, including nine children, were hurt in the early hours of Friday as the fire tore through 10409 E. 42nd St., a three story building in Kansas City’s Riss Lake neighborhood on the East Side. All the injured, including two critically hurt children, had burns or experienced smoke inhalation, officials said.
“Any arson has the potential to get out of control quickly, and obviously fire is indiscriminate when it decides to take people’s lives,” Ham said. “But in this case it’s particularly heinous. Because whoever set this fire set it in the stairway, which is the only means of egress.
“So they’re in their apartments and the only way they can get out, through the stairwell, is where the fire is.”
Fire at Stonegate Meadows
The Kansas City Fire Department responded around 12:30 a.m. to the Stonegate Meadows apartment complex, and crews saw residents jumping from the second floor trying to escape, Jason Spreitzer, a KCFD spokesman, told The Star.
Fire damage was visible Friday morning in the building’s stairwell. The on-scene investigation came to a close Friday afternoon, and the building, estimated as a $500,000 damage loss, was released back to the property manager.
Now that the matter is being officially investigated as a crime, Ham said law enforcement officials are working to apprehend the person or persons responsible.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Authorities are encouraging anyone with information about the arson to call the ATF hotline at 888-ATF-FIRE or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
The Star’s Aaron Torres contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 5:20 PM.
