Repeated fires at vacant Kansas City, Missouri, apartment complex strain firefighters, alarm neighbors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than 20 fires have broken out at the Olive Park Village Apartments, with the most recent occurring early Sunday morning.

Neighbors are calling for demolition as the Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department warns of ongoing dangers to firefighters.

Flames engulfed two vacant buildings at the apartments in the 2300 block of East 9th Street around 3 a.m. Sunday, marking the latest in a string of more than 20 fires at the property.

Neighbors living near the vacant complex say the repeated fires have become a familiar and frightening routine.

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"Truthfully, I always just think, here we go again. This happens over and over and over," Michaela Naughtin said.

Naughtin says she has grown accustomed to hearing firetrucks in the middle of the night. She woke up to sirens again Sunday morning and recorded video of the blaze.

"It's a huge safety concern not just for my neighbors, myself, but also the firefighters," Naughtin said.

She is among neighbors calling for the buildings to be torn down.

"I'd love to see these taken down sooner rather than later. It's just a terrible safety concern," Naughtin said.

The Kansas City Fire Department says responding to fires at the property puts firefighters at risk every time. Crews have been injured at the location before.

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"We've had some minor injuries. We've had a mayday here before, but that firefighter was able to get out. Nothing serious, but that's not to say you know the next time something happens that could happen," Battalion Chief Riley Nolan said.

Nolan says repeated calls to the same location strain the department and its crews.

"The strain is more of just continuing to respond to the same location," Nolan said. "It's also a danger to us, not only to the neighborhood but also to firefighters."

Nolan says each fire requires a large response and that crews continue to face the same risks at the property every time they are called out.

He says neighbors seeking a permanent solution should take their concerns to elected officials.

"I would say continue to work with their council members," Nolan said.

For Naughtin and her neighbors, the goal is straightforward.

"We just want our neighborhood to be safe for families and kids to live in again," Naughtin said.

KCPD's bomb and arson unit has been requested to assist in the investigation of the ongoing string of fires.

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