BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — A fire at a Boulder apartment building sent one family jumping for their lives Thursday night to escape the flames.
Shortly after 10 p.m., Boulder firefighters received a call about a building on fire in the 4200 block of Monroe Drive.
“I was monitoring the security cameras for the neighborhood, and I heard screaming,” neighbor Heather Ford said.
Ford tells FOX31 she takes on the role of neighborhood watch in the area. She has sophisticated security cameras and says her footage, now in police hands, shows the fire starting in the building’s trash room.
“You can hear a whooshing sound, almost like air is being blown out of a canister, like pressurized air, and you’ll see almost purple-colored flames,” Ford said.
Ford said she called 911, and crews arrived in less than two minutes. She saw a family of four — two parents, two children — and their two dogs escaping the flames.
“Mom went first, the dad kind of dropped her down,” Ford said. “She was hanging on, so she dropped about 10 feet and collapsed when she hit the ground, got up a couple seconds later and caught the two kids and two dogs.”
“It’s kind of surreal, I’m very grateful I live in this side of the unit,” building resident Taylor Henderson said.
Henderson lives at the other end of the building. She too was home when it happened.
“I ran to my room, threw some things in my backpack, grabbed a water bottle, didn’t have shoes on,” Henderson said.
Henderson and her roommates were told to stay elsewhere for the time being, but they said their apartment didn’t get any of the damage.
“I feel really grateful and really lucky for that because I know that family is not as fortunate, so my heart goes out to them,” Henderson said.
“The moral of the story is, really be very vigilant of what you throw away, because this fire started in the trash room and it’s very likely it was a lithium-ion battery that set off the fire,” Ford said.
FOX31 asked fire officials about the cause of the fire. We are waiting for a response.
The family who escaped was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries from the jump. A GoFundMe has been set up for them.