MORRISON — The alarm clock inside the log-cabin-style home beeped promptly at 5:32 a.m. Christmas Eve.
Frank Maixner’s youngest daughter, intent on getting an early start wrapping Christmas presents, awoke to the sound of dogs barking, he said. But when she went to quiet the dogs, what she saw instead were flames leaping up the outside of the family home, Maixner said.
She screamed. Within minutes, the rest of the family — Frank; his wife, Mary Kay; and the five children, ages 16 to 21, they have between them — were standing outside in the subfreezing darkness, their home being consumed by fire.
Volunteers from Inter-Canyon Fire/Rescue arrived quickly, but there was little they could do except keep the fire from spreading. By midmorning the day before Christmas, most of the family’s possessions had been reduced to an ashen pile inside the charred half-shell of what had hours before been their home.
“It’s just totally devastating,” Frank Maixner said. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in, to tell the truth.”
Fire investigators on Wednesday afternoon were still trying to determine what caused the blaze at the home on Creek Trail in the wooded Homestead subdivision south of Morrison. It apparently started outside the home near the garage, said Inter-Canyon Deputy Chief Dave MacBean.
Maixner said he and his son Matthew, who was home on leave from the Marine Corps, tried to get water to douse the flames just after discovering the fire. But the family’s exterior water faucet was frozen shut.
“I feel that we could have at least controlled it somewhat until the fire department arrived and at least saved some of the house,” said Matthew, who said he initially saw flames just around the home’s electrical panel, leading him to believe an electrical problem caused the fire.
About 5:45 a.m., volunteers with Inter-Canyon Fire/Rescue were paged about the fire. Firefighter Dave Fleming, who lives one street away, immediately looked out his bedroom window toward the fire devouring his neighbor’s home.
“It was easily 60 feet in the air,” he said.
Trucks and firefighters from three other departments were called in to help. Because the subdivision has no fire hydrants, crews had to bring in their own water supply.
“We had a tremendous amount of heat and a significant amount of damage, so that made it more difficult,” MacBean said.
The family was able to save a couple of vehicles, the clothes on their backs and two dogs. A third dog — a black Labrador — ran off after the fire and was still missing.
“No lives were lost, thank God,” Frank Maixner said. “That’s the most important thing. We’ll just pick up the pieces.”
“A tight community”
Before the fire even stopped smoking, neighbors came through the woods to help them do just that, delivering food and care packages. A woman brought two armfuls of teddy bears to the scene for firefighters to give to the family.
“I know that kids love bears,” she said.
A man trying to sell a house in Lakewood drove to the neighborhood after seeing coverage of the blaze on the news. He offered to let the family rent his place for $1.
“This is a tight community,” MacBean, the deputy fire chief, said. “So, immediately, neighbors started coming out and offering clothing.”
Maixner said the family planned to spend Christmas with his brother-in-law in Highlands Ranch, and they have other friends and family nearby whom they can stay with temporarily. He said their insurance company already is looking at getting them longer-term housing.
The outpouring of help from neighbors and strangers alike has been incredible, Maixner said. On one of the family’s darkest days, it has helped make Christmas a little brighter.
“There’s a lot of great people out there,” he said.
A fund has been set up to help the family. Contributions can be made to the Maixner-Kiley Fund at any FirstBank location.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
