photo by: Contributed

A burned garage and home on June 8, 2025 at 1409 West 21 Terr.

A garage fire that left the home of two Lawrence residents uninhabitable on Sunday was determined to be accidental after a welding torch caught a car on fire. The incident was understaffed due to numerous simultaneous calls to the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical.

Fire crews with LDCFM were dispatched to a fire at 3 p.m. at 1409 W. 21st Terrace on Sunday, where firefighters encountered a garage on fire, said LDCFM Chief of Staff McKenzi Ezell in an email to the Journal-World. The fire was brought under control by 3:27 p.m. with help from Consolidated Fire District 1.

Investigators determined that the fire started when one of the residents was working on a car in the garage with a welding torch and items on the dashboard caught fire, Ezell said. The fire left the home uninhabitable. Ezell said the American Red Cross has been contacted for assistance.

No injuries were reported by the residents or by emergency responders, Ezell said.

At the time of the fire, LDCFM units were responding to several other calls including one low-level EMS call, two low-level fire calls, and one high-level EMS call, which left the responding crew understaffed for the fire, Ezell said.

“LDCFM typically responds with 21 firefighters to structure fires, but at the time of this incident, we did not have enough available resources to fully staff the response,” Ezell said.

Additionally, an out-of-town hospital transfer was delayed because other ambulance units were out of town on another hospital transfer, Ezell said.

photo by: Contributed

A firefighter retrieves gear from a firetruck while a home is on fire on June 8, 2025, at 1409 West 21st Terrace.