Woman displaced following apartment fire upset about use of fireworks

By Betsy Webster

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    INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (KCTV) — An investigation is underway in Independence regarding what caused a fire on July Fourth that damaged six apartment units and destroyed several cars.

A city spokeswoman said it’s not clear yet whether fireworks sparked the fire at The Cedars apartments and townhomes near 40 Highway and Noland Road.

Lydia Senate, however, has no doubt.

“It was completely terrifying,” she said of the moment her husband alerted her.

They got home from a professional fireworks show at Oak Park High School in Gladstone at about 11 p.m. Senate was settling into bed. Her husband was unwinding watching TV.

“All of a sudden, my husband just yelled, ‘Fire!’ And, I walk out of the bedroom and there’s just this wall of orange,” Senate described.

She quickly surveyed what she could grab before running, picking up her I.D. and her cat. Her husband grabbed his pet hedgehog named Mabel.

The fire department said they got the call at 11:19 p.m.

The carport outside her apartment was destroyed, along with all of the cars parked below it. Several others across the street were damaged, including hers. Six apartment units, hers included, were damaged. That caused the residents to be forced out indefinitely.

The fire department was there until 2 a.m. As of Tuesday night, the city indicated the cause was still under investigation.

Senate showed KCTV5 a photo of fireworks debris which she described as 50 feet from the fire. She said she took the photo right after the fire.

She heard fireworks going off all weekend.

“All night long,” she said. “Pop, pop, pop, pop pop.”

Independence allows fireworks, with some exceptions on types and hours, but Senate said the apartment complex prohibits them. She said management emailed tenants last week reminding them of that.

That night on July Fourth, when she pulled in 20 minutes before the fire, she said they were so close she could feel it.

“You could feel the vibrations of the explosions and it just… it was scary,” she said.

The Belton Fire Department posted a photo on social media of a home damaged on Independence Day by what they described as discarded fireworks left next to the home.

The Overland Park Fire Department posted a photo of a wood shingle roof damaged by projectile fireworks on July Fourth.

The Kansas City Fire Department had two house fires early Tuesday, at 1 a.m and 1:30 a.m. They have not indicated if fireworks played a role.

Many streets in Kansas City were filled with smoke and fireworks wrappers Monday night. Home fireworks are outlawed in Kansas City, Missouri, and in Overland Park, Kansas.

Senate would like to think things like that would teach people to be more careful but she doubts it will.

“They’re not going to get a message until it happens to them,” she said. “Unfortunately, that’s not what our society does. We don’t think about other people until something happens to us.”

Her cat and several other pets are staying with family.

The Red Cross put her and her husband up in a hotel for a few days. She said the apartment complex management has been helpful and transparent, though where she will be staying and for how long is still up in the air. She said they are currently surveying what units are vacant so they can evaluate if there is a place for everyone.

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