CARBONDALE, Kan. – Osage County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about a garage on fire early Thursday morning in Carbondale, Kan., but instead firefighters found a house fire that resulted in the home’s destruction.

The call at 4:02 a.m. Aug. 9, 2018, reported the fire at 324 Melody Lane, Carbondale, which is owned by Stephen Loschke, according to county land records.

Multiple fire districts assisted in the fire, those including those from Carbondale, Overbrook and Burlingame. The Kansas State Fire Marshal was called in to assist in the investigation.

No injuries were reported, but the house was a total loss, valued at $140,000. The fire marshal has determined the fire started in the garage but the cause remains under investigation.

A non-injury semi-truck accident shut down the roundabout at U.S. Highway 75 and state Highway 31 to one lane for about four hours early Thursday morning.

According to a report from the Osage County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the accident at about 1 a.m., Aug. 9, 2018, when they found a semi-truck operated by Michael A. Cox, Grand Junction, Colo., had struck the roundabout while southbound on U.S. 75. The fuel tank was damaged during the accident, causing approximately 70 gallons of diesel fuel to spill.

U.S. 75 and K-31 were shut down to one lane for approximately four hours while flaggers directed traffic at the roundabout, about a mile north of Lyndon, Kan.

Other agencies and departments assisting included Osage County Fire District No. 5, Osage County Emergency Management, and Kansas Department of Transportation. The Osage County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident.

Fire crews were dispatched around 7 p.m. Monday, to report of a possible appliance fire at Osage Nursing Center, Osage City, but no fire was discovered.

According to a report from Osage County Fire District No. 2, crews from OCFD No. 2, OCFD No. 5 and OCFD No. 6 were dispatched to the nursing home located at 1017 Main St., for a report of a burning odor, believed to be coming from an electrical appliance.

Upon arriving at the scene, OCFD No. 2 firefighters located an overheated ballast in a light fixture. Responding automatic aid departments were cancelled. Department members were on scene for approximately 17 minutes, with no injuries reported.

Other agencies and departments that were on scene or assisted were Osage County EMS and Osage City Police Department.

OCFD No. 2 personnel reminds everyone to have working smoke detectors in their home and check them frequently. Also have an escape plan, practice it, and be prepared to use it in the event of a fire.

Update: The statewide silver alert issued last night for Ella Mae Henderson, of Topeka, has been canceled. The KBI reported this morning that she was located safe in a nearby county.

*****

Ella Mae Henderson

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Topeka Police Department requested that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation issue a statewide Silver Alert for an endangered 77-year-old woman with dementia, who could possibly be in the Osage County area.

The Topeka Police Department is currently trying to locate Ella Mae Henderson, 79, of Topeka. She is 5 ft. 6 in. tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen around 3:30 p.m. Monday, July 30, 2018. Henderson suffers from dementia. She was last seen driving a silver Cadillac with the personalized Kansas tag of “MSEL”. She may have headed south from Topeka toward Osage County.

The Topeka Police Department asks anyone who sees Henderson, or who has had contact with her since 3:30 p.m. Monday, to immediately call them at 785-368-9200.

OSAGE CITY, Kan. – Local fire crews were called to a structure fire at 1421 Laing St. Osage City, Kan., Wednesday, extinguishing a blaze in a bedroom.

At approximately 4:42 p.m., July 18, 2018, Osage County fire districts No. 2, Osage City, No. 5, Lyndon Vassar, and No. 6, Burlingame, were dispatched to the location. An Osage County Sheriff’s deputy and an OCFD No. 2 firefighter arrived on scene approximately five minutes later, and extinguished the electrical fire with a dry chemical fire extinguisher before apparatus arrived. The fire was contained to a bedroom in the residence.

Damage estimates are not available at the time of this release, but the Osage County Appraiser’s Office appraised the residential structure at $58,070. According to county land records, the property is owned by Ernest and Michelle Ehrhart Jr. and Sharon Kinsley.

Other agencies on scene or assisting included the Osage City Police Department and Osage County EMS. OCFD No. 2 members were at the scene for approximately 35 minutes, with no injuries reported.

OCFD No. 2 reminded everyone to have working smoke detectors in their home and check them frequently. Also have an escape plan, practice it, and be prepared to use it in the event of a fire.

SCRANTON, Kan. – A single-car rollover accident near Scranton, Kan., sent two people to the hospital with injuries Sunday.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Brian Kenneth Penn, 36, Emporia, Kan., was driving a 2000 Toyota Tundra eastbound on U.S. Highway 56 south of Scranton at 12 p.m. July 8, 2018, when the vehicle hit debris in the roadway. Penn lost control and the vehicle went off the roadway to the left, rolling one and a half times.

Penn and a passenger in the vehicle, Jennifer Lea Lindsey, 26, Emporia, were both disabled in the accident and transported by ambulance to Stormont Vail Hospital, Topeka, Kan. Another passenger, James Lee McBroom, 24, Emporia, was not injured in the crash.

QUENEMO, Kan. – A 54-year-old Topeka woman was killed in a train-pickup accident Saturday afternoon about a mile east of Quenemo, Kan.

According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office daily report, Linda Henderson, 54, Topeka, was driving a 1999 Chevrolet 1500 pickup at about 12:10 p.m. July 7, 2018, when she failed to yield to a flashing railroad crossing at 2800 Alabama Terrace, Quenemo, and was struck by a westbound BNSF train. Henderson was pronounced dead at the scene.

The case is under investigation by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. 

MELVERN, Kan. – Two people were killed in a rollover accident on Interstate 35 in Osage County Saturday evening, following a pursuit by a Lyon County sheriff’s officer.

According to a Lyon County Sheriff’s Office press release, about 8 p.m. July 7, 2018, a deputy attempted to stop a vehicle at mile marker 142 on I-35. The driver of the 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser, later identified as Sharnicca D. Cannon, 23, of Tucson, Ariz., refused to stop and a pursuit ensued, heading northbound on the interstate. During the pursuit, it was learned the vehicle had recently been reported stolen during a robbery in Emporia, Kan.

The sheriff’s office reported the driver attempted to exit at a high rate of speed at the Melvern, Kan., exit, at mile marker 160, when the driver lost control, and the vehicle left the roadway and rolled several times.

Coffey County EMS, Osage County EMS, and a Life Team helicopter responded to the scene, but lifesaving measures were unsuccessful. Cannon and the passenger in the car, Anthony E. Krawczyk, 20, Mesa, Ariz., were pronounced dead at the scene. Both victims were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.

The crash is under investigation by the Kansas Highway Patrol.