Manhattan Fire Department

Photo Courtesy of MHK Fire Department

At 8:28 a.m., the Manhattan Fire Department was dispatched to 519 Pierre St. for a report of a structure fire. Upon arrival, crews found a two-story house that had been converted to an office for Big Brothers Big Sisters, with fire coming from multiple windows in the rear of the building. The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained within 90 minutes.  The fire was knocked down within 20 minutes, but it took another hour to fully extinguish fire in concealed spaces. A total of 20 firefighters responded on 5 fire apparatus, with the last fire units clearing at around 11:00 a.m. No injuries were reported. 

Loss is estimated at $10,000 to contents and $175,000 to the structure. The owner is listed as Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters Inc. The cause is under investigation at this time.

Thanks to our partners, Riley County Fire District #1 responded with a mobile air unit, Riley County EMS provided rehabilitation for firefighters, and Riley County PD provided scene security.

The Manhattan Fire Department is an ISO Class I, career fire department, serving the City of Manhattan from five fire stations.  The department provides fire, emergency medical first response, technician-level hazardous material response, and technical rescue including vehicle extrication, trench, high and low angle, surface water, structural collapse, and wide area search.  The department serves as a Type I regional hazardous materials response team through the State Fire Marshal primarily serving 8 counties in the surrounding area.  MFD is part of Northeast Task Force 2, a search and rescue/water rescue team with other area departments, and is tasked to cover 23 counties for urban search and rescue response.