Admin

BREAKING— Just before 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 3, several Kansas City Fire Department (KCFD) trucks were called to Independence Avenue near Order Express (3827 Independence Ave) and Gringo Loco (3825 Independence Ave) on a reported residential fire.

Upon further investigation, firefighters and Titan Security located the fire within the backside of Gringo Loco — a Northeast small business variety market, offering meat, produce, baked goods and Mexican food, among other items — which was started by a group of unhoused individuals residing behind the structure.

Gringo Loco Market Owner Cindy Leng was on-site Friday morning. She shared with Northeast News that these unhoused individuals had taken up camp and were sleeping in a space behind her building — additionally mentioning that Gringo Loco had kicked the group out of this location twice, but they kept coming back.

This engulfment led to a multi-truck response Friday morning, however, KCFD was able to extinguish the flames, on-scene Titan Security personnel said, Friday.

Leng said Gringo Loco was required to shut down operations due to smoke fumes, which had traveled inside the building. She said the store will remain closed until the smoke has cleared and the space is safe for customers to return.

Damages were suffered to Gringo Loco including electrical chords, which Leng said will require repairs.

No known injuries were suffered and this group of individuals has cleared from the area, Titan Security said, Friday.

Neighboring businesses are known to have remained unaffected at this time.