Hangar catches fire at airport near Benton
Two people and their pet dog escaped harm when fire broke out in a hangar at Stearman Air Field near Benton early Monday morning.
The fire heavily damaged the hangar on the south end of a row of eight hangars, Butler County Emergency Management director Jim Schmidt said, and fire crews had to work hard to keep the fire from spreading to the neighboring hangar just a few feet away.
“We had the potential of it going farther,” Schmidt said of the fire.
Fire crews from Benton, Andover, Towanda and Sedgwick County responded to the blaze, which was reported a few minutes after midnight, said Butler County Emergency Communications director Chris Davis.
“We had lots of resources headed there very, very quickly,” Davis said.
A single-engine Cessna parked inside the hangar “had a lot of heat and smoke damage, but it never breached the fuel tanks on the wings,” Schmidt said. “That was very fortunate.”
No cause or damage estimate has been released, Schmidt said, but a preliminary investigation indicates it was an accidental fire.
Reach Stan Finger at 316-268-6437 or sfinger@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @StanFinger.
This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Hangar catches fire at airport near Benton."