Fire Envelops Home

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 - Breckenridge, CO

At approximately 12:00 Wednesday afternoon, Red, White & Blue Fire District was called to a house fire on Peak 7. While on Airport Rd., firefighters noticed a smoke column 50-60 feet in the air. Neighbors who called 9-1-1 stated that the house was unoccupied except for a dog.

Arriving on scene at 0175 Shadows Drive, firefighters encountered heavy fire coming out of the second floor and the front porch. Wind-fed flames and full fire involvement kept firefighters initially from entering the house and they fought the fire from the exterior. Windows were blown out from the house and two trees 20 feet from the house caught on fire.

Firefighters had the initial fire under control after 10 minutes on scene. After knocking down the flames, firefighters entered the house to continue extinguishment. They recovered an 8 year-old black lab, who was unable to make it out of the house and died in the dining room. The porch and roof above it collapsed, along with one interior floor. Firefighters stayed on scene for the remainder of the afternoon.

The woman who was renting the house was at work at the time and stated she left at approximately 9:30 a.m.

The log house, owned by Pamela Duys and Lois Oetker, was 2214 square feet and had extensive smoke and fire damage. The next- door neighbors stated that they were in their basement painting, looked out, saw the smoke, which continued to intensify and then called 9-1-1. The husband ran to the house, knocked on the door and opened it, calling in. He didn’t hear anything and heavy smoke prohibited him from entering. He observed 10 foot flames coming from the northwest side of the house from the roof over a covered porch.

"We will have firefighters remain on scene throughout the night," said Fire Investigator Lt. Jay Nelson. "Investigation will start first thing in the morning and at this time, we do not know why the fire started," he said.

Disaster Restoration Inc. (DRI), out of Denver, will be boarding up the windows throughout the house today. "This ensures that the belongings in the house will remain secure with the forecast of high winds and possible snow coming in tonight and tomorrow," said Nelson.

Two engines, a ladder truck and the Command vehicle responded from Red, White and Blue, with approximately 14 firefighters. Lake Dillon Fire Rescue sent an engine with four firefighters. Summit County Sheriff’s Office assisted with traffic and initial investigation.

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