Fire still not out in apartment building under construction

AURORA, Colo. — Aurora firefighters are still working to put out a fire in an apartment building Monday evening, more than two days after it started.

Firefighters were first called out to the area for reports of a structure fire along Peoria Street and Colfax Avenue at an apartment building still under construction just before 1 p.m. Saturday. 

Since then, they’ve kept streets blocked off and power shut off along the block for safety, impacting businesses in the area. Aurora Fire said its needed for safety and the outages will need to remain until they’re sure the fire is out. 

Monday afternoon, firefighters and trucks blocked off a busy route through Aurora. Traffic moves slowly here, where it moves at all. 

“On a Monday, we’re normally really busy but today you can see, there’s no way for people to come by,” said Felix Corchado, owner and manager at Premier Group Insurance off Peoria St., near the apartment building under construction caught fire Saturday. 

“There was so many fire trucks around here. It was chaos,” Corchado said. “You could see the flames shooting out of the building.”

Firefighters moved in fast. The fire was faster. “Obviously, with all the smoke and everything, it did get dark,” he said. “It just became dark and you could see embers flying, there was ashes all over the place.”

Two days later, the fire is still not out.

“We are fighting active pockets of fire at this time,” said Lt. Carlos Oropeza, with Aurora Fire Rescue’s Public Information Office. 

Oropeza said they’ve sent drones up with thermal imaging to identify hot spots and put them out. The building’s size isn’t helping those efforts. 

“We’ve actually had some collapse. Right in front of you if you see this corner, that was a collapse a couple of hours ago. We’re still worried and we’re not getting anybody in there until we can safely access the building,” Oropeza said. 

For safety, businesses nearby have had utilities and water shut off. Luckily, Corchado’s office has kept the lights on. Still, the fire’s ashes blankets sidewalks outside his building and smoke fills the air inside and out. 

“You can smell the smoke,” Corchado said.  “I mean, it’s really, it’s rough. We’ve been working inside the office and just keep coughing all day long. You can smell it, it’s pretty bad.”

So bad, they closed down early Monday. “Hopefully it’ll be better tomorrow,” he said. 

He hoped to see the fire put out safely and the roadblocks removed soon. “I know it’s going to be a while but hopefully it’ll be open ASAP,” Corchado said. 

Oropeza said they may have to bring in heavy-duty equipment to knock down some of the walls so they can better reach those hotspots.

An investigation into what caused this fire is underway but much of that will have to wait until this fire is out for good.

Just last week, Aurora Fire had another fire at an apartment complex along South Addison Court that was also under construction. Right now, Oropeza said all they know for certain is that both buildings were under construction when the fires broke out. 

Monday, Aurora Fire confirmed the fire at the South Addison Court location is now being investigated as a potential criminal act. When asked what factors led to that determination, they declined to elaborate. 

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