Boiler Fire Damages Commercial Building
On Monday, December 19, 2022, at 11:44 p.m., the Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded to a reported commercial structure fire at the John Knox Village Maintenance Building, 626 NW Pryor Road. John Knox Village Public Safety received an automatic fire alarm for the building. When public safety officers arrived, there was smoke in the building, and they notified the fire department. Officers located a fire on a mezzanine in the shop area, attempted to extinguish it without success, and left the building.
When the fire department arrived, light smoke was visible from a warehouse-type maintenance building. Firefighters entered the smoke- filled building and extinguished a fire involving a hot water boiler and the wood mezzanine. Crews shut off natural gas and removed the smoke from the building. A search of the building confirmed it was unoccupied. The fire was under control by 11:58 p.m.
The fire originated at the hot water boiler and spread to the wood mezzanine and the ceiling space of the two rooms below. The fire heavily damaged the boiler and a portion of the mezzanine, with minor smoke damage to the remainder of the building. The building can be re-occupied.
The exact cause of the fire is undetermined.