Fire starts in kitchen during after school program at Methodist church
Around 3:25 p.m. Thursday, Tonganoxie firefighters responded to a smoke alarm coming from Tonganoxie United Method Church.
Katie Wiles, director of the church’s Fun Quest afterschool program, said the fire started in the kitchen, where she was making an afternoon snack of corndogs for the children.
“I opened up the oven door, and there was a big plume of smoke and some fire,” Wiles said.
Wiles was able to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher, but not before breathing in some smoke.
The 25 students in the afterschool program were taken to the Tonganoxie Elementary School playground while they waited for the firefighters to clear the building.
Tonganoxie Fire Chief Dave Bennett said firefighters were able to completely extinguish the fire and were able to use fans to clear out most of the smoke in the kitchen.
Wiles was treated and released.