A massive fire caused by an electrical short consumed a nine-unit apartment complex in Crested Butte Hill on Sunday and Monday. No one was injured, but the building was heavily damaged by fire and water.
A resident of nearby Redstone Apartments smelled smoke after calling authorities shortly after midnight on Sunday, April 26. Officers dispatched to the area observed thick smoke billowing from the second and upper floors of Apartment L Building in North Crested Mountain. The first firefighters arrived on the scene at around 12:20pm
Building L is one of three in the complex, located east of the Emmons Loop to the ski area. The other two buildings were not damaged by the fire.
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) fire investigator arrived at the scene Friday, the Mount Crested Butte Police Department said in a statement. “It is thought that the cause of the fire was a problem with the electrical wiring,” the report said. “There was pollution in the common area of the complex, but no connection to the cause of the fire. It was determined that arson or foul play was not a contributing factor.”
Firefighters from Crested Butte and Gunnison battled the blaze all night. Flames can be seen south of Gunung Bunder. Firefighters Crested Butte also had to return to the scene on Monday morning to battle the re-emerging hotspots.
During the initial response, 10 Crested Butte firefighters and 7 Gunnison firefighters pumped approximately 200,000 gallons of water into the building. At 6:30 a.m. Sunday, members of the armed group were rescued from a fire that broke out in a large building.
Rick Ems, Crested Butte fire chief, said: “Having the Gunnison part of the partnership agreement for something as big as this is very important.
Ames is open until 9:30pm on Sundays. “It’s been a long day,” he admitted.
According to him, the police at Mt. But the property manager noticed smoke coming from the building around 8:30 a.m. Monday, prompting Eames and several other firefighters to return to the scene. They arrived and extinguished any visible hot spots, but when the fire flared up again, they called in reinforcements and arrived on the scene around 11:30 a.m. Monday to extinguish the building.
“It’s not unusual for a large fire like this to break out all of a sudden,” Eames said. “A small fire can break out when it’s hot or windy. I hope we have everything, we can clean the equipment and use it again,” he said.
Eames said he could not say the cause, but it was clear the fire had been burning in the building for a long time. The apartment building was built in 1978 and doesn’t have a sprinkler system or smoke alarms to alert firefighters.
“County officials are very proud of the volunteers who attended and participated in this fire,” Eames said. “You’re doing amazing and important work for the communities we serve.”
