DENVER (KDVR) — Ten units were deemed uninhabitable and 30 residents were displaced after a fire at a Denver apartment complex early Monday afternoon.
It happened around 1 p.m. at Maple Apartments, near 33rd Avenue and Fillmore Street in Denver’s Clayton neighborhood.
FOX31 was told families weren’t even able to go back inside and salvage what they could because of the danger and the damage. Officials said the fire was in the attic space, although the cause and origin are still under investigation.
Firefighters battle attic blaze for hours
This quickly became a third-alarm fire, meaning several fire crews responded, along with paramedics, but thankfully no one was hurt. Neighbors looked on as dozens of firefighters spent hours working tirelessly to put out the fire and hotspots.
“It turns out that fire was up in the attic space,” said Capt. JD Chism, with Denver Fire. “So the big concern and what caused us to elevate from a first-alarm to a second-alarm and eventually a third-alarm was due to the fact that we were trying to stop that fire from spreading as it was spreading across the attic across those units.”
FOX31 spoke with two families impacted by this fire, one of whom just moved into these apartments less than a week ago.
“It just spread it pretty fast, so we just had to get out of there,” Shamyra Davis said. She also said her apartment is “pretty messed up.”
“I just moved over here three days ago,” Davis added.
Residents helped alert neighbors of danger
RTD was requested to help move those displaced and keep them warm. The Red Cross was also called in.
Everyone got out OK, including Kaeloni Olana and her family.
“Everybody’s house is connected, so all the vents, like it’s coming through everybody’s house,” Olana said. “My dad had to run in to get important documents and the car keys. So he runs in, he can’t even see where he’s walking.”
She said their neighbor knocked on their window telling everyone to get out.
“They ran out and then they got together, the neighbors, and they started knocking on everybody’s doors telling everybody to get out ’cause they don’t know what’s going on,” Olana explained.
Officials with Denver Fire said that at one point, firefighters had to get off the roof for safety reasons.