Fire destroys west Emporia home

Emporia Fire led the response to a destructive house fire early Thursday. Fire was reported at 909 Thompson shortly before 3 am, and Emporia Fire Battalion Chief Eron Steinlage says the home was fully engulfed in flame when everybody arrived on scene a few minutes later. Crews had no chance of getting inside the house as they worked to get the fire out. Nobody was home at the time. Lyon County records show the house is owned by Fred and Deloris Johnson. There is no word on a cause or origination point. Steinlage says the structural instability makes it extremely difficult to determine a cause. Besides Emporia, fire crews from Americus and Olpe responded, as did Emporia Police, Lyon County deputies, Evergy and Kansas Gas.
KVOE-AM 1400 Emporia

City to turn south Wichita park into the Kansas Firefighters Memorial

A proposal to convert Lincoln Park on South Broadway into a Kansas Firefighters Memorial was revealed during the Kansas Firefighters Service on Sunday. The Kansas Firefighter Museum Board has been considering the idea for years, only seriously considering it in the last few months. The museum, which is at Lincoln Park, was the first fire station built in Wichita and is now the official Kansas Firefighters Museum. The project could mean big changes for the museum and the park. It’s a longtime dream of Kansas Firefighter Museum Board President Tod Newlin. “[We’re] kind of in the infancy stage, but this is as far as we’ve gotten in a long, long time,” Newlin said. “It’s always been an unofficial state memorial, but we want to make it an official state memorial.”
KSNW-TV NBC 3 Wichita

Update: Fatal central Topeka house fire deemed homicide by investigators

Investigators have discovered a house fire Sunday evening in central Topeka is now considered a homicide. The Topeka Fire Department (TFD) shared in a news release that a fatal house fire Sunday evening was intentionally set. According to the news release, the victim is an adult male. Once next of kin is notified, TFD will announce the identification of the victim. The incident is being investigated as a homicide by TFD, with the Topeka Police Department assisting. Around 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, TFD responded to reports of a house fire in central Topeka. First responders arrived at the 1600 block of SW Buchanan Street to find heavy smoke and flames coming from a two-story residence.
KSNT-TV NBC 27 Topeka