Wayne White
Managing Editor

BURLINGAME—Firefighters of Burlingame and two neighboring communities found themselves hard at work on Labor Day, after a Burlingame resident reported her house on fire.

Answering the 8:31 a.m. call Monday, a Burlingame Fire Department crew arrived at the home at 141 W. Chase St. to find smoke and flames coming from downstairs windows of the two-story home.

“They brought the fire under control fairly quickly,” said Burlingame Fire Chief Jim Strohm. He said due to the county’s automatic aid procedures, firefighters from Osage City and Carbondale also quickly responded.

Strohm said the fire was confined to a bedroom in the house, although the other downstairs rooms in the house sustained smoke and heat damage. Damage to the upper floor was limited to smoke damage.

“It was extensive damage,” Strohm said.

No injuries to firefighters or residents were reported, but several pet cats died in the fire. As of Tuesday, the cause of the fire remained undetermined and under investigation.

He said Lori Monroe, an occupant of the home, reported the fire. Another occupant, John Dennison, was not at home at the time of the fire. Rita Bartee owns the home, Strohm said.

He said firefighters could see smoke from the fire station five blocks away.

“We responded with two engines, a tanker and a couple support vehicles,” Strohm said.

He said equipment arrived quickly from the other fire departments, and he praised their actions and the county’s firefighting plan.

“The automatic aid response of those two departments are another example of how well the system was working,” he said. “We had plenty of people on scene and plenty of manpower to rotate out.”

“The system we have in this county is working awesome, working like a dream,” he said. “Our neighbors, they help us a lot and we help them.”

Firefighters extinguished the fire and left the scene within three hours of the call, Strohm said. “They spent a few hours mopping up hotspots and getting smoke out of the structure.”

He said the home was not insured, and Red Cross is assisting Monroe and Dennison.