Fire destroys two structures
Release Date: July 28, 2010
Publish Date: 7/27/2010
Cañon City firefighters douse two burning houses with water on Hazel Avenue on Monday.
Jeff Shane/Daily Record
Fire destroys two structures
Cañon City Firefighters spend 3 hours fighting Hazel Ave. fire
Carie Canterbury
The Daily Record
Responders from the Cañon City Fire Department and volunteer firefighters spent three hours fighting a structure fire Monday that destroyed two houses and a shed at 716 and 718 Hazel Avenue.
Cañon City Fire Chief Dan Brixey said dispatch received a call at about 4:06 p.m. for a garbage fire next to a structure, and by the time crews arrived, the two homes were on fire.
“Upon our arrival, we had two structures actually involved in fire,” Brixey said. “We were on scene within five minutes and responded with two engines and a ladder.”
The house at 716 Hazel is the residence of a 54-year-old male who was treated and released from St. Thomas More Hospital for possible smoke inhalation.
“I spoke with him at the hospital,” Brixey said. “His report to me is that he was using the barbecue grill, and when he came back outside, the barbecue grill had caught the side of his structure on fire.”
The house to the east is being used for storage. Brixey said. David Messer owns both houses.
“As one structure caught on fire, the other structure immediately caught on fire,” Brixey said.
A shed behind the houses also was on fire when crews arrived.
“It’s probably a loss, as well,” Brixey said. “Because of the age of the structures and the amount of fire and the construction type, we probably consider both structures as lost, even though they are standing.”
Brixey said about 30 firefighters spent more than an hour getting the fire under control, and crews were hampered by downed power lines and construction taking place in the area, where a new water line is being installed on College Avenue
“Getting water to our pumpers was a little bit difficult at the very beginning,” he said. “But after we got that out, the fire was difficult to extinguish because of the relative closeness of the two structures.”
Brixey said building codes today require structures to be a minimum of 10 feet apart, but there only was three to four feet in separation between the two structures that he estimated were at least 70 years old.
Shawn Davis, a patrol officer with the Cañon City Police Department, was the first to arrive on scene. He said the house was on fire when he arrived, and the occupant was outside.
“He was standing on the front porch trying to go back in to get his medicine,” he said.
Davis convinced him to go across the street.
Brixey said most of the contents of the structures probably will be salvageable.
No neighboring residents were forced to evacuate, and the fire still is under investigation.
Carie Canterbury may be reached at ccanterbury@ccdailyrecord.com.
