A family of six was burned out of their strawbale home in Boulder County early today after an attempt to thaw pipes with a blow torch set the structure on fire.
Cmdr. Rick Brough, spokesman for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, said that the father was in the crawl space below the home attempting to thaw frozen pipes when the fire started.
The call reporting the fire in the 3900 block of Conifer Hill Road near Allenspark came in at about 8:30 a.m. The home, made of straw bales covered with mud, was in a secluded location on an unplowed road that made it difficult for firefighters to reach.
The road had to be cleared before firefighters from the Lyons, Allenspark, Left Hand Canyon and Indian Peaks fire departments could fight the blaze, Brough said.
He said the flames spread from the house to an adjacent storage building, also made strawbalese.
Both the mother and father were transported to a local hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
The family lost everything, including their pet fish, Brough said. However, the family’s three dogs, cat, parrot and pig were saved.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
