A dog and a cat were killed in an accidental fire early Tuesday that significantly damaged a house in northeast Topeka s Oakland community. No people were hurt.
Firefighters were called just before 4:30 a.m. to the scene of the blaze at 427 N.E. Emmett, which preliminary investigation indicated was accidental and associated with a space heater, said Topeka Fire Marshal Todd Harrison.
He said the fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damage, including $20,000 to the building and $5,000 to its contents.
No people were home at the time the blaze began, Harrison said.
He said firefighters arrived to find smoke and flames coming from the two-story, wood frame house, where they began an offensive fire attack and kept the fire confined to that building.
Next Wednesday s inauguration of Kamala Harris, a Black woman who will be the nation s second vice president of color, has brought heightened media attention to its first vice president of color Charles Curtis, a Native American from Topeka who held that office from 1929 to 1933.
Meanwhile, Curtis former mansion at 1101 S.W. Topeka Blvd. is for sale by the three siblings who inherited it from their parents, Don and Nova Cottrell, who each died recently after having restored the house.
The asking price is $750,000, The Topeka Capital-Journal learned Friday from Patty Dannenberg, who owns the house with her brothers, Gene Cottrell and James Cottrell.