Overland Park Fire Department investigating housefire that killed 2, injured 1
By Greg Payne
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OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (KCTV) — Johnson County Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of an overnight fire that killed two people and forced another person to be hospitalized.
“It’s really shocking,” says Alex Dombrowski.
Dombrowski lives at the end of the block, but he woke up to the news of the tragic incident in his neighborhood, after a message from a relative.
“We live probably just far enough away that we didn’t hear anything in the middle of the night. So, I just came on down to see what happened,” says Dombrowski.
Fire crews responded at around 1:30 a.m. for a house fire on Westgate Street in Overland Park just off West 103rd Street.
When firefighters arrived, they found an active fire with reports of people trapped inside. Crews immediately began a search and rescue operation while trying to extinguish the blaze. They found two people dead inside and a third who was transported to an area hospital.
That person was in stable condition and has since been released. Three others within the home were able to escape as well.
“You don’t expect it, it’s an occurrence that is few and far between in this neighborhood. Pretty rare to have fire trucks go through the neighborhood or even the police for that matter, so any event like this is pretty shocking,” says Dombrowski.
Fire crews say there wasn’t a single working fire alarm within the home, which is the reason they plan to conduct a neighborhood smoke alarm canvas later this week in the area.
“Immediately started doing a mental inventory, ‘alright I got one in our room and the next room the kitchen and the garage’. So, you just start taking into account what you have and what you don’t have, says Dombrowski.
Fire crews say if you are unable to get an alarm to contact your local department.
At this time the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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