UPDATE 1:30 PM 5/7/2017: There are reports of another explosion at the The Hemingway Plaza East Condos on Ward Parkway Sunday afternoon. More crews were called back to the scene.
The building was already evacuated after an underground electrical fire early Sunday morning. A KCP&L spokesperson told 41 Action News that a transformer fire was to blame.
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi with the Kansas City fire department said the building was safety evacuated.
"There was heavy black smoke pouring from the sidewalks, so I made sure there was no smoke inside the building. We evacuated the structure." said Berardi.
Shortly before 8:00 a.m. residents say they heard several explosions and saw black smoke. Flames were soon seen coming from the sidewalk at the back of the building near 121 W. 48th Street.
Power was cut to the building, and it took fire crews some time to make sure all residents were safe and out of the building.
This is what @KCMOFireDept were dealing with when they arrived this morning behind the #HemingwayPlaza apts south of @ThePlazaKC pic.twitter.com/Ncvnzn0hZK
— Andres Gutierrez (@AFGutierrez) May 7, 2017
No injuries were reported.
Kansas City Power & Light officials say an equipment failure underground were the cause of the fire. Multiple crews were on scene working this morning.
The outage affected several buildings in the area.
Sunday evening KCP&L reported that electricity had been restored to the surrounding high rises. They were still working to restore power to the Hemingway.
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