Firefighters Extinguish Blaze at Home Under Construction

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Breckenridge, CO

On Friday, February 23, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Red, White & Blue Fire District responded to a house fire at 87 Buffalo Terrace. The fire was called in by a neighbor, who immediately called 911.

Upon arrival, firefighters observed flames showing through the front window of the 5,000 sq. ft. home under construction. They quickly entered the house and extinguished the observable fire. Heavy smoke inside the home prevented visibility from 6’ off of the floor to above, where there was more fire. Crews continued to extinguish the fire, taking turns fighting it from the exterior, and then re-entering the house to extinguish flames inside.

According to preliminary interviews, workers at the home left sometime Friday afternoon and had four heaters inside of the house to dry sheetrock mud. Three of the heaters were connected to small propane tanks inside of the house; the fourth, which appears to have been near the point of origin of the fire, was connected to a 500 gallon propane tank that was situated outside of the house. The fire appears to have been caused by either combustibles set too close to the fourth heater or a system malfunction between the propane tank and the heater.

"The house suffered extensive damage because it was still under construction and only about 60% completed," said Fire Investigator Lt. Jay Nelson. "The sheetrock was not finished and the fire was able to spread more rapidly," he said.

The owner of the home, Andrew Catron, lives in Colorado Springs.

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Press Contact:
Capt. Kim Scott, PIO
cell: 970.485.4374
email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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