Red, White & Blue Firefighters Respond to House Fire

Friday, May 16, 2008 - Breckenridge, CO

CO-At approximately 12:30 a.m. this morning, Red, White & Blue Fire District was paged to a house fire.

When firefighters arrived on scene at 0151 Starlit Lane, in Blue River, half of the house was already fully involved in fire, forcing the firefighters to perform an exterior fire attack.

The fire was extinguished, but not before destroying a major portion of the house. "The house did not have a monitored fire alarm system, so by the time someone alerted 9-1-1, the fire had already made a significant run throughout the house," said Fire Marshal Jay Nelson. Residents across Highway 9 smelled smoke and called 9-1-1.

"Because monitored fire alarm systems alert 9-1-1 when the fire is small and maybe not visible to those outside the house, we usually see far less damage in monitored homes because we are able to respond before a lot of damage is done," Nelson added.

The house is owned by Herb and Liz Murphy, who live in Fort Collins. Approximately 60% of the homes in Red, White & Blue’s fire district are second homes.

Firefighters from Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue, as well as North West Fire District, in Fairplay, responded to assist Red, White and Blue. Summit County Sheriff’s Officers were on scene to secure the area. Because Sherwood Forest Subdivision, as most of Blue River, does not have hydrants nearby, firefighters had to use a water shuttle operation to transport water to the house.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, although it appears to be accidental at this time.

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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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