A sprinkler system saved low-income housing in Fort Collins from a fire sparked Saturday afternoon.
The fire on the third floor of the converted Northern Hotel was under control in about 10 minutes after the Poudre Fire Authority arrived on the scene. The firefighters mostly engaged in search, ventilation and property protection procedures while the sprinkler system extinguished the fire, according to a news release.
Fire and smoke damage was contained primarily to the room where the fire started, the release said, but a second-floor hotel room and first-floor business did sustain water damage.
One person was taken to Poudre Valley Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, and two people were displaced by the fire, the release said.
A fire destroyed the second and third floors of the hotel in the 1970s, and the sprinklers were added during the building’s refurbishment, said spokesman Patrick Love.
Poudre Fire Authority officials said Sunday night that the cause was accidental.
Officials said started when a resident on medical oxygen dropped a cordless phone on the floor. In the process of retrieving it, she came too close to a burning candle on a dresser. The oxygen tubing she was wearing caught fire and was fed by the 100 percent oxygen, officials said.
The woman removed the flaming tubing and threw it away from her. It landed in a waste basket, catching it on fire. The fire then spread to the bed, officials said.
Heat from the fire activated the sprinkler system, which extinguished the fire.
Cassie Hewlings: 303-954-1638 or chewlings@denverpost.com
