Oven likely cause of fire
By KAREN MIKOLS
A mid-morning fire charred the kitchen of the house at 512 Montgomery.
"When they opened the door, smoke just billowed out," neighbor Pam Jones said.
The fire department was called to the scene at 9:29 a.m., and 15 firefighters and four trucks responded.
"They had smoke coming from the back portion of the house," Fire Captain Justin Kilian said. "There was smoke coming from the stove, through the cabinets and banking off the ceiling."
Kilian said the fire likely started on the stove where the resident said she was cooling a pot of soup.
"It's an older stove," Kilian said. "She thought she had turned it off, but the stove was on."
The kitchen sustained moderate to heavy damage while the first-floor apartment was smoke damaged.
"There was fire right above the area in the attic," Kilian said. "There was some charring up in the rafters."
The basement apartment was not damaged, he said, and no one was home when the fire started.
Smoke detectors were present on both floors of the home, and Kilian said the basement's smoke detector was functioning.
The fire department routinely distributes free smoke detectors to residents who cannot afford to purchase a detector. All of the detectors have been distributed, but residents can call the fire department at (785) 628-7330 to get on a waiting list.
