Wednesday, Mar. 13 2013 1:44PM

Electrical fire in basement damages LS home

By the Journal Staff

A fire over the weekend that originated in the circuit breaker panel of a residence in Lee’s Summit caused minor damage after the occupant reported hearing a loud “boom” before power went off in the home.

The Lee’s Summit Fire Department responded at 7:23 p.m. March 9 to a reported structure fire at 219 S.W. Opal Drive. The occupant of the dwelling heard a loud “boom” and the power went out in the house. After going to the neighbor’s home to report the outage, he came back to the house and it was full of smoke.

When the fire department arrived, light smoke was visible from the single-story, single family residence. The only occupant of the house was outside.

Firefighters entered the house and found light smoke on the first floor and heavy smoke in the basement. The fire was located in the electric circuit breaker panel and had spread to the exposed floor joist above it. Firefighters extinguished the fire above the panel and contained the fire to the breaker panel until the utility company could shut off electricity to the house.

A search of the building confirmed no one else was in the house.

The fire, which caused damage to the floor above the circuit breaker panel, a portion of an outside wall and minor smoke damage to the remainder of the house, was under control by 8:20 p.m.