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A five-alarm fire that tore through a partially built Denver apartment complex Friday was still burning Monday as investigators worked to uncover the cause of the city’s worst blaze in decades.
The fire still burned underneath massive piles of debris at the destroyed apartment complex at 5337 Leetsdale Drive in Denver’s Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood, Denver Fire Department Division Chief Robert Murphy said Monday.
The development was planned as a 283-unit luxury apartment complex called Harker Heights before the fire sparked Friday night.
Fire investigators are considering what started the blaze and have not yet landed on one clear cause, Murphy said. Investigators are looking into the possibility that a homeless person was in the building when the fire began, but have not yet confirmed anyone was present, he said.
Rumors that the fire was sparked by vagrants have not been proven, Murphy said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” he said. “We’ve also heard the firework theory. And then as ever, there are things construction people do that have caused fires before. We are really looking at all angles.”
Fire officials still aren’t sure whether anyone was killed in the blaze, Murphy said. Crews haven’t been able to search through the debris for any bodies.
“I really hope there is nobody in there,” he said. “We are not getting any reports of anybody missing.”
Investigators are relying on witness accounts and ample surveillance video from neighboring businesses as part of the investigation, he said. The “enormity” of the building and the massive amounts of debris complicate the investigative work, Murphy said.
“It is going to be difficult and not timely,” he said.
The property’s ownership will bring in the heavy equipment to dig through the debris, he said, but firefighters will be present during that process to quickly knock down any fire that flares up as the debris is removed.
“There is going to be active fire there, not crazy, but smoldering and smoking until we can get an excavator in there and open it up,” Murphy said. “Some of that fire, we can’t reach it; it is hidden.”
Just one or two fire companies remained at the scene Monday — down from a peak of about 175 firefighters and support personnel who responded to the blaze Friday.
Fire officials hoped to further reduce on-scene crews by Monday night, keeping just a few uniformed personnel on site to keep control of the area during the ongoing investigation into the fire’s cause.
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Shelly Bradbury
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