Provided
Glenwood Springs resident Ernie Mack was cleaning his grill in his driveway when a neighbor two doors down said he thought the house in between them was on fire.
“I left my yard, and peeked around and saw smoke,” Mack said.
The pair called 911, and fire crews responded immediately. “Once we got off the phone, we could hear sirens. Within a couple minutes, they were here,” Mack said.
Neighbors crowded out of their homes, and some said they were ready to kick down the doors if there was anyone inside.
“Thankfully, the tenants weren’t home,” Mack said.
The fire department first received calls about the house fire on West 12th Avenue, off Riverview Drive near Midland Avenue, at 1:08 p.m.
Around the same time, neighbors on the back side of the house heard the fire before they saw the smoke.
“I thought it sounded like breaking plates, or crackling and pops,” Hannah Juul said. Hannah and her mother, Carol Juul, also called 911, and came to the front of the house fire after watching their yard.
“We were keeping an eye on the vegetation to make sure it doesn’t spread through the backyards,” Carol Juul said.
“I was the first to arrive with one engine,” Glenwood Springs Fire Chief Gary Tillotson said. “On arrival, we had heavy involvement. Flames were extending through the roof on the east side.”
The house was a single-family structure occupied by a family of five. Both adults and their infant child had been out of the home for at least an hour before the fire, and the other two children were in school, Tillotson said.
“When I arrived, the west end had obvious flames, but out of the roof vent on the other side, there was heavy smoke. So I’m assuming the damage on that side was smoke and heat,” Tillotson said.
The rest of the house, the porch and yard sustained heavy flame damage. Fire crews had the blaze under control within 30 minutes.
Mack’s home to the east did not appear to be damaged, but the house on the other side, where the fire was hottest, was damaged.
“The adjacent structure (to the west) suffered some scorched siding,” Tillotson said, but he classified the damage as minimal. “It looks like it didn’t even break the windows, but it’s early,” he added.
More than a dozen firefighters, Glenwood Springs Police officers and emergency medical personnel responded to the blaze, including one engine from the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District.
“There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters thus far,” Tillotson said.
“Because of the extensive mop-up, we will probably bring in some more crew from Colorado River Fire,” Tillotson said.
The cause of the fire is unclear and will be investigated, Tillotson said.