Firefighters still guessing at cause, possible dead
By Erin Emery and Claire Martin Denver
The Denver Post
Copyright 2007 The Denver Post
All Rights Reserved
Colorado Springs — Dozens of people wearing little more than sleepwear in the single-digit cold jumped or were rescued from windows and balconies at a three-story apartment building early Tuesday as a massive fire tore through the complex.
Firefighters — unable to enter the 135-unit Castle West apartments for much of the day as flames roared through the 37-year-old building — were left to wonder whether everyone had made it out alive and to guess at the cause of a blaze that moved at bewildering speed.
A small group of firefighters made a preliminary search of a few apartments late Tuesday and found a dog and two cats that had survived. No fatalities had been reported as of 6 p.m. At least 23 people were treated for minor and moderate injuries, including one firefighter.
Asked whether he suspected arson, Brett Lacey, fire marshal for the city, responded: “I haven’t seen any indication of that yet.”
With hoses snaking through the neighborhood and water running down the streets, more than 100 firefighters and 20 trucks from across the city worked all day to snuff out the blaze.
Flames remained visible and crews continued pouring water on the rubble well after sundown. The complex, valued at $4.8 million, is believed to be a complete loss.
Fire officials could not confirm how many people lived in the building because the tenant roster was left inside. Thus far, they have matched people to 91 of the 135 units.
“We don’t have good accountability,” said Lt. Julie Stone. “Our hope is that everybody is out.”
The Salvation Army reported that at least 167 people had been evacuated. Officials expected that fewer than 20 residents would stay overnight Tuesday at a Red Cross shelter set up in the adjacent Springs of Life Church.
Investigators from Colorado Springs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and dogs from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation were on hand Tuesday trying to determine how the four-alarm fire started. There was some question as to how effective the dogs would be, given the amount of water used to fight the blaze.
The preliminary search of the building was suspended by 6 p.m. Crews were to have remained on the scene overnight, and it was hoped that investigators could go back inside at daylight today.
Building engulfed early
Calls from residents reporting the fire came in to dispatchers beginning at 12:47 a.m. As firefighters from Station 7, which is only four blocks away, left their station, they called for a second alarm because of black smoke on the horizon.
The first crew arrived within three minutes, and flames already were shooting from windows, said Lt. Glenn Conklin, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Fire Department.
Residents in pajamas and bare feet were clinging to window ledges and balconies in 8-degree weather.
Many were screaming: “‘I can’t get out! I can’t get down!”’ said Leslie Harrison, who escaped from a first-floor unit with her two daughters.
Using ladders, firefighters rescued 62 people.
Colorado Springs Fire Chief Manuel Navarro said an open attic above the complex could have allowed the fire to make an unimpeded run.
“There was a large amount of fire in multiple areas of the building,” Conklin said. “It’s one large building that is kind of an F-shape, and the fire has run completely through the structure. It appears that the roof has collapsed throughout the structure.”
Built in 1969, the building did not have sprinklers. Residents said they heard a fire alarm, and at least one said his unit had a working smoke detector.
Shortly after the fire was detected, a manager and tenants ran down the halls, banging on doors and telling people to evacuate, residents said.
The smoke was black and heavy, said Daryl Davis, who escaped from his third-floor apartment with his wife, Rudell, and their 19-year-old daughter, Jasmine.
“I had to go get the cops so they could get my neighbor off his balcony. Even with the flashlights and everything, the smoke was so thick they couldn’t see him,” he said. “You couldn’t see anything. It was crazy. It was crazy.”
A choice: Jump or be burned
Davis said fire filled all the exits.
“I seen it when it blowed out the whole front of the building - it shot right on out,” he said. “The flames shot out 20 feet going out the front door.”
James Evans, 27, opened the door of his apartment and was met by heavy, black smoke.
He quickly slammed the door. Evans said he had no choice but to jump from the window of his third-story apartment, about a 30-foot drop.
“When I got up, I thought my face was smashed in,” Evans said. He went to Memorial Hospital, where he got nine stitches.
Jeff Bradford, 51, said he was almost asleep when a manager knocked on the door and told everybody to evacuate.
“In a matter of a minute and a half, two minutes, you couldn’t see nothing,” Bradford said. “It amazes me how it went up that quick. If it started on the north end of the building, and we had all these firemen out here, how did it whip around like that?”
Bradford said his grandmother died last week and he had inherited a few of her things.
“It’s gone,” he said. “My father’s dead and I had some of his stuff, and it’s gone. It’s going to be hard to get over this. … How did a three-story building go up so fast?”