A second-alarm fire engulfed a lumberyard outbuilding near downtown Kansas City

By Kendrick Calfee, Robert A. Cronkleton
The Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A massive blaze at a lumberyard shot flames into the air that could be seen by morning commuters as they headed through the Jackson Curve east of downtown Kansas City Tuesday.

Firefighters responded to the blaze around 6:15 a.m. at the Central Missouri Reload Inc. lumberyard, 3900 E. 14th Terrace, said Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins, a spokesman for the Kansas City Fire Department.

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The first crews to arrive found a large outbuilding, where stacks of lumber that had come off the rail yard were fully engulfed in flames, Hopkins said.

Firefighters took an immediate defensive attack due to the size of the blaze and sprayed large streams of water from multiple aerial trucks to bring the fire under control, Hopkins said. The fire was brought under control shortly before 9 a.m.

“We’re just working on hot spots, starting to unpile it and getting down to the meat and potatoes of it down in the middle,” Hopkins said.

Smoke still filled the air at the lumberyard after the flames were extinguished. A stream of water flowed down from Truman Avenue where a tanker truck attached a hose to a fire hydrant.

Earlier, the fire department issued a second-alarm assignment as they were battling the blaze, mainly to bring additional pumpers to run hose lines needed to supply water.

“Based on its (the fire’s) location and the amount of large streams we needed to use, we needed multiple hydrants, and just that distance they had to cover, we needed additional pumpers to help push that water,” Hopkins said.

While there was a hydrant right in front of the business, firefighters had to pull water from two other hydrants: one about three blocks away and another more than four blocks away.

The lumber was the biggest challenge that firefighters faced in battling the blaze, Hopkins said. The lumber comes in large stacks and, once it starts burning inside, firefighters have to pull the stacks apart and spread them out to get to the fire.

“Once that fire gets burning deep-seated down inside the stacks, it’s hard to get it completely out,” Hopkins said. No injuries were reported.

Keith Fletcher, 59, stood next to a KCFD pumper truck watching with his hands in his coat pockets as firefighters continued to put out embers around 9:15 a.m.

Fletcher, the owner of the 40-year-old business, said the lumberyard has dealt with three fires in the last year. Investigators determined those fires had been started by unhoused people in the area.

“We’re a transloader, so we offload material for customers and then relocate it to their particular yards,” Fletcher said.

Powerful streams of water coming from pumper truck hoses and a brisk December breeze pushed the smoke rising into the air. A large pallet of lumber could be seen charred and smoldering.

“This will be close to a $5 million loss,” Fletcher said.

As he met with firefighters and prepared to survey the damage to his business, Fletcher called for accountability in the court system.

“Prosecutors and judges need to prosecute the small crimes so we don’t have big ones,” Fletcher said.

At the peak, the fire department had about 12 fire trucks and three ambulances at the scene. Several of the fire trucks were released from the scene.

About six fire trucks and an ambulance remained at the lumberyard as crews began overhaul work. They used the fire department’s new firefighting robot to assist with cleanup operations.

Two firefighters sat about a block away looking at the smoke. One firefighter said winter seems to be the time lumberyards catch fire in Kansas City.

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.

“The fire had grown rather large by the time we got here,” Hopkins said. “So I would just say that if you’re driving by and see something on fire, the earlier you can call it in the better.”

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