Huge Grass Fire in West Lawrence - a Close Call for Residents

A grass fire erupts Thursday morning, threatening residents and homes in west Lawrence.  (Photo courtesy of Scott Reinardy, an area resident who had to temporarily evacuate his home.)It was a close call for residents in a west Lawrence neighborhood as a nearby grassfire raged out of control Thursday morning, threatening their homes. Some area residents, like University of Kansas Professor Scott Reinardy, were told to evacuate their homes. Reinardy lives along Pallisades Drive. It was near this neighborhood, just east of the South Lawrence Trafficway, that a grass fire was reported sometime after 10 a.m. Lawrence police say residents in a two-block stretch were evacuated because the fire was threatening their homes. The blaze was also close to Langston Hughes Elementary School, which is closed for the summer. Fire crews from Lawrence and the surrounding area had the fire controlled shortly after noon, allowing residents to return to their homes. Crews stayed on the scene to put water on hot spots. No significant structural damage or injuries were reported. The Lawrence Journal-World reportsthat the cause of the fire may have been a squirrel that somehow caused a power line to spark, catching dry vegetation on fire.