EVANS, Colo. (KDVR) — One person has died from injuries sustained in a house fire on Sunday, and two remain injured.
Aimee Lewis spoke with the family of the fire victims, who said a brother and sister lived in the home with their elderly father. When flames consumed the home, the siblings tried to get their wheelchair bound father out of the home but couldn’t.
It was the struggle that sent them all to the hospital, but 52-year-old Vicky Marquez didn’t survive.
“It disgusts me, to see my family was there and I wasn’t there to help them. I wish I could have helped them,” said Annette Lujan, the sister and daughter of the victims. “They pulled my sister out, brought her out on the street and she was already dead. They revived her, took her to the hospital but didn’t make it.”
Her father, Toby, is fighting for his life on a ventilator with burns to his lungs and throat. Brother Ricky is expected to survive, getting out before the firefighters arrived.
“I just want to know what happened,” said Luhan.
Front Range Fire Rescue Chief Mike West said the call came in at 12:28 p.m. about several vehicles and a house on fire at 3208 Carson Ave. He said crews got there within five minutes of the call.
“The fire has gone from what we refer to as an offensive fire attack to a defensive fire attack because there was so much damage to the building,” West said. Thirty-five firefighters from six different agencies worked on extinguishing the blaze, which took nearly two hours.
West said the fire was taking longer to battle because firefighters had to attack from the outside since the extensive damage prevented them from an inside position.
Fire crews still don’t know what started the fire, but haven’t ruled out the possibility of arson. Evans Police Department continues to go door-to-door to collect video surveillance from several cameras on the homes of neighbors, as fire investigators work the scene to find the source of the fire.
The family started a GoFundMe for their loved ones.
This story has been updated from the original post.