Valerie Mitchell first felt two loud booms shake her southern Kansas City apartment early Sunday.
Then she saw a bright yellow glow through the closed curtains at her sliding glass door.
By the time she looked outside to see what was happening, the flames that damaged six cars were so fierce she thought a nearby apartment building was ablaze.
It scared me to death, said Mitchell, who lost her 2003 Mazda Tribute and her husbands older model BMW sedan in a fire at the Polo Run Apartments near 93rd Street and Holmes Road.
Mitchell was awake between 3:30 and 4 a.m. when she heard large booms that she thought were from illegal fireworks.
Kansas City firefighters were quick to respond, Mitchell said, but at least four of the cars were totaled and two others had significant damage.
Firefighters told Mitchell that they didnt know what caused the fire, she said, but that they thought it started in her husbands car. She said he had left his sunroof open but hadnt used his car since 6 p.m. Saturday.
Mitchell questioned the morals of someone who would have set a fire that could have taken lives.
Had the Fire Department not been right there, it (the nearby apartment building) would have caught fire, she said. That building easily could have gone up in flames. It is a blessing it didnt.
Sundays fire was the second to destroy vehicles in a carport in the area in less than a week.
A fire Wednesday at the Louisburg Square Apartments in Overland Park caused about $250,000 of damage. Thirteen vehicles were destroyed, and six others were damaged. Police arrested two juveniles Friday who are suspected of starting that fire in a trash container.
