Osage County Herald-Chronicle | Fire does $1.5 million damage to downtown buildings

Catherine Faimon | Publisher

OSAGE CITY—Black smoke could be seen for 30 miles late Sunday afternoon as a two-story commercial structure in downtown Osage City burned strong for about six hours. Dan Romine, fire chief of Osage County Fire District No. 2, said firefighters were dispatched Sunday, March 1, at 2:02 p.m. to a fire at 531 Market Street. Mink Photography and A Sign for You, at that location, as well as a gift shop, Ramblin’ Rose, at 529 Market Street, were destroyed in the fire, which was ruled accidental.

A two-day joint investigation by Kansas State Fire Marshal Wally Roberts and federal fire investigators determined the source of the fire to be a heat gun that was left unattended to thaw out frozen water pipes located at the rear of the building.

Osage City police officer Larry Phillips was the first emergency responder to arrive at the fire scene, where he noticed spectators beginning to gather across the street at Duckwalls.

“I couldn’t see smoke coming from the front of the building,” he said, but he could see through Mink Photography’s window that it was filled with smoke.

“I drove around to the back of the building and could see smoke coming from Mink Photography.”

He said he went to a door that led to an upstairs apartment but smoke caused him to turn back.

Once fire crews arrived, Phillips said he called Osage City Manager Nick Hernandez to ask him to call out the city’s water department personnel.

“I then called the street crew so they could come blockade the street. I had dispatch call Red Cross.”

Osage City Police Chief Fred Nech said the police department continued to provide traffic control and maintain security of the fire scene.

Jury Krajack, owner of Mink Photography and the sign business, was renting the apartment above his business to his daughter, Julie Krajack, and her fiance. Ramblin’ Rose owner Nancy Washburn rented the apartment above her building to her sister. Romine said there were no fire-related injuries reported and the American Red Cross is providing assistance to those who have been displaced by the fire.

“I’ve been here 26 years and I’ve never had anything like that,” Romine said Monday. “The old construction, people adding onto the building, modifying the building … all of these things contributed to the difficulty in fighting the fire.”

“We pulled everyone out and went into defensive mode when the entire attic area became involved,” he said. “The roofing material is what made the impressive black smoke that people could see from I-35. Those are made to burn down. For the magnitude of the fire, we did a pretty good job.”

Early damage estimates are $1 - $1.5 million.

Mutual aid from surrounding towns brought the number of firefighters on scene to around 75, including the 20 or so volunteer firefighters from Osage City. Romine said Mission Township and Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority brought aerial devices to help battle the blaze from above. Other fire departments assisting were Burlingame, Lyndon, Melvern, Carbondale and Scranton. Also providing assistance were Osage County Sheriff’s officers, Osage City Police officers and American Medical Response personnel.

“Most firefighters have to take vacation today (Monday) because they were here all night,” Romine said. “I think they all did an excellent job. The support was overwhelming from the community. Everyone worked well together. I don’t like that we lost the buildings; it’s always disappointing. We worry about losing a whole block - it could have been a whole lot worse.”

Romine said emergency personnel and firefighters were given access to the Osage County Senior Center as a place to rest throughout the night Sunday, with Jerry’s Thriftway, Casey’s General Store and Community Covenant Church youth group donating food and drinks. “We had it under control by 7:30 or 8 p.m. Most hot spots were out by 11 p.m., but we kept a crew of eight or nine through the night to watch for flare-ups.”

The city hired structural engineers from a Topeka firm, Professional Engineers Consultants, who were on site Monday and Tuesday to evaluate damages and make plans for safe demolition.

Tuesday afternoon, city officials, insurance adjusters, building owners, fire investigators, Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) personnel and engineers met at the city council chambers to determine the best way to move forward with demolition of the structurally unsound remains. KDOT has allowed a portion of K-31 Highway (the 500 block of Market Street) to be closed to traffic until the upper level of the building can be torn down. Traffic is being detoured through town until that time, which could be as early as Friday, but may extend into next week.

Mike Gilliland, city utility supervisor, said water levels were never an issue while the fire was being fought. “We did not run out of water at any time. There were an estimated 500,000 gallons used on the fire Sunday.”He said at some points throughout Sunday, firefighters were using an estimated 4,000 gallons per minute.

Gilliland said one of the firefighters, who works at the city utility office, looked at water levels at 2 p.m., just as the fire was called in. The water tower was at 74 percent capacity. It was checked again at 10 p.m., registering 53 percent capacity.

“We still had quite a lot of water,” Gilliland said. “Between 10 and 11, we started gaining on the water. The system performed well. Those guys did a great job.”