A fire destroyed the Hampton Woods Apartment Complex at 16945 W. 67th Terrace in Shawnee on the night of Thursday, Feb. 23. The Shawnee Fire Department responded after receiving a call shortly after 7 p.m.

The fire lasted from late Thursday night into early Friday morning and fire fighters from two different Shawnee crews, along with five other crews from around Johnson County, worked for several hours to control the wind-fueled fire, but to no avail. The building was destroyed; however, they did prevent the fire from spreading to the surrounding buildings.

Due to the wind, the flames grew rapidly and quickly grew to a three-alarm fire, or a fire that demanded multiple units of fire fighters, according to Shawnee Fire Chief John Mattox in an interview with the Kansas City Star. Mattox also called the caliber of the fire uncommon.

This multi-alarm fire destroyed 20 units within the building and put 40 people out on the streets, as well as damaging several surrounding units. All buildings in the area were safely evacuated before the flames grew even more, causing the floor in the initial building to collapse.

This is the third apartment fire in recent weeks. Due to the out of the ordinary nature of the fire, an investigation will be launched into the cause of it today.