Blue Springs School District helps students displaced by Independence apartment fire

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (KCTV) - The Blue Springs School District is stepping in to its students displaced by the fatal fire at Indy Ridge Apartments in Independence.

“I’m in school and I just don’t know. I didn’t see this coming,” said displaced resident Journee Briscoe.

On Wednesday morning Journee Briscoe was sound asleep on the couch when her sister woke her up and alerted her their apartment was surrounded by smoke. All she could think about was survival.

“We didn’t have nothing, like we just had literally anything that we just had on we just had to go,” said Briscoe.

Her family s a total of 32 people displaced by the fire. Many of these people include families, children, and students in the Blue Springs School District.

Briscoe is a student at Blue Springs High School. A typical evening may have been spent catching up on homework or studying, but she said that night things weren’t as simple.

“I’m just really traumatized. I don’t even know. I just barely could even get sleep last night. I just really wanted to be with my family,” said Briscoe.

She said the Blue Springs School District has been providing students like her who were displaced by the fire with transportation, clothes, free meals, and counseling. These are a few ways, a spokesperson for the district said, they are trying to help as much as possible.

“We really lost everything and me being this young, I’m in school so it’s like anything really can help. I’m just really thankful for my school,” said Briscoe.

As these families look to rebuild, students like Journee said they can turn to their school as a temporary home during this process.

“It’s really anything that they can think of it’s just really been a big help and I appreciate them so much,” said Briscoe.

The Blue Springs School District is also collecting clothing, shoes, and blankets for the families displaced by the fire.

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