Ellen Miller
Rocky Mountain News

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A raging fire Sunday morning destroyed the building housing the studios of KREX-TV and KFQX-TV, knocking CBS and Fox signals off the air in the region.

Four employees and a cleaning worker escaped without injury after someone rang the entry buzzer and pounded on the front door to alert them to the fire about 8:30 a.m.

Station executives provided coverage of Sunday's AFC and NFC championship games and other network programming through Bresnan's cable service and also were working with satellite providers.

The cause of the fire had not been determined. Damage was estimated at $6 million.

Grand Junction Fire Department spokesman Mike Page said the ferocity of the fire, coupled with the honeycombed structure below the first-floor offices, prevented firefighters from entering the building.

"It's a death trap," he said. "The building has lots of concealed spaces, and when we tried our initial attack, a couple of smoke explosions forced us back."

KREX, the CBS affiliate, is owned by Hoak Media Corp. of Dallas, and operates KFQX, a Fox affiliate, for Parker Broadcasting. Communities served by the stations include Grand Junction, Delta, Montrose, Glenwood Springs and Aspen.

Most of the equipment, broadcast logs, video library and business records were lost, said General Manager Ron Tillery. But the transmitters, housed in a part of the basement originally built as a bomb shelter, may survive.

"It's a historic building," Tillery said. "Our hearts are broken, but we will continue to provide service and we will be building a new station from the ground up."

KREX was one of the Western Slope's first radio stations, signing on in the early 1930s under the direction of the late broadcast pioneer Rex Howell.

The original portion of the building was an old farmhouse acquired by Howell, whose 99- year-old widow still lives across the street.

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