Denver 4th Alarm 12/15/13

[Guest]

Around midnight Denver Firefighters were dispatched to multiple reports of a building fire in the 800 block of South Cherry Street.  Engine Co. 5 is housed nearby and could see heavy fire in the air on the way in.  When they arrived a 5 story wood frame, apartment building under construction was already fully involved.  A 2nd Alarm was immediately requested as exposures were becoming involved.

 

Witness video shows just how intense the flames and heat were...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-fsuANUd...e=youtu.be

 

I live 16 miles away in southeast Aurora and could see not only the glow, but flames from my house.  Here's a shot taken by my wife as we left the neighborhood.  A 3rd Alarm had been struck at this point and it was followed by a special call for 2 Engines & 1 Truck.  When it was all said and done a 4th Alarm equivalent was on scene.

   

 

I had my dash cam rolling and it shows fairly well what we could see, I included a short segment of it.  You can Aurora dispatching a structure fire in the background and it was one of four reported that were actually 911 callers seeing the Glendale fire several miles away.  Not sure why the date and time got messed up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b87ZR9KxO...e=youtu.be

 

First shot walking up...

   

[Guest]

The 3 story, occupied apartment building across the street from the main fire sustained significant damage. 

   

 

   

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[Guest]

District Chief 4 - Mark Ruzycki in command

   

 

DFD Command Staff

   

[Guest]

This is the first time I've ever seen 5 aerials up at a fire in Colorado.  Four master streams work the main fire and a fifth was out of frame on the exposure building.

   

 

Charlie side view

   

[Guest]

One of the first arriving companies was Engine 19.  They parked a bit too close and sustained some heat damage to their rig, photo by fellow buff Rod Blakney

   

[fire12]

Nice shots and a heck of a fire..

[Fire28]

When I was in Denver in May the guys said they never really got any big fires over 2 Alarms, I laughed and said well everything unusual happens when I leave..... This is the 2nd(?) 3 Alarm + in like the last 2 months (ther being the one downtown).

[Guest]

Very good. I especially like #4 & #5, but they are all good.

[Image7801]

Great shots, Eric. Do you have a breakdown on who responded on which alarms? (Disregard, I saw you have it on your site). I assume lots of move-ups happened, too. Did DFD cover their own stations, or did anyone else move in?

[Guest]

Great shots, Eric. Do you have a breakdown on who responded on which alarms? (Disregard, I saw you have it on your site). I assume lots of move-ups happened, too. Did DFD cover their own stations, or did anyone else move in?

The alarms were very messed up. There were several full assignments dispatched to the area for people seeing the main fire which made for some goofy groups. DFD did not ask for mutual aid to cover or respond to other calls and close to half of the cities resources were OOS. The DFD moves were hard to keep track of but there were some far ones... Like District 5 companies to District 3.

[Guest]

When I was in Denver in May the guys said they never really got any big fires over 2 Alarms, I laughed and said well everything unusual happens when I leave..... This is the 2nd(?) 3 Alarm + in like the last 2 months (ther being the one downtown).

Yeah that's true, typical is maybe 2-3 2nd Alarms in one year for DFD. Denver has had 8 2nd Alarm or greater fires since January this year. Two were over 3 Alarms and both happened after you left... Hey you should visit again next year!

[Guest]

Here's another video, this one looks pre-DFD arrival. The 5 story frame is still intact which provides a good scale on flame height.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_0yx2jOio

[grubber33270]

Very nice Photos.

[Image7801]

That thing lit off pretty quickly, by the looks of it. Nothing suspicious about that...

[Guest]

That thing lit off pretty quickly, by the looks of it. Nothing suspicious about that...

 

Yes indeed.  There's some interesting coincidences with a historic fire there also.  In December of 2003 the Spanish Gate Apartments were lit off by an arsonist, the property is now a vacant lot located kitty-corner from the building that burned last night.  Both were 5 story buildings. The incident command post was actually set up on the site of the building that burned 10 years ago.

[gmuhr]

Great photos and video!

[hank]

Good photos!

 

tHANKs