By Robert A. Cronkleton
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Firefighters battled another blaze overnight at Kansas City’s vacant Parade Park housing complex, which is set to be demolished at the end of January, a fire department spokesman said.
Fire crews responded to the fire at about 2:45 a.m. Thursday in the 2100 block of East 15th Terrace, according to Battalion Chief Riley Nolan of the Kansas City Fire Department.
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The first firefighters to arrive found a two-story vacant building fully engulfed in flames, Nolan said. Crews stretched hoses for the initial attack while others secured water sources and set up aerial fire trucks to battle the fire from outside. Once ready, firefighters attacked the blaze by spraying water from above.
The fire spread to an adjoining unit, which firefighters tackled with additional hose lines. Once the main part of the fire was knocked down, crews used hoses to extinguish any remaining flames, Nolan said.
A search of the buildings returned all clear, and no injuries were reported. Nolan said the fire was brought under control by 4 a.m., and firefighters remained on the scene putting out hot spots. The last firefighters cleared the scene shortly after 5 a.m., according to PulsePoint, a 911-connected app that alerts people to emergencies in their area.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Demolition of the historic Parade Park buildings was scheduled for last month but was delayed as developers secured additional funding for the complex’s ambitious $300 million revitalization project.
Firefighters have responded to around a dozen fires at Parade Park in the past year. While investigators were unable to determine the cause of most of the fires, some have been classified as arson or as caused by unhoused individuals.
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