Ten people were moved into temporary shelters Saturday after a fire in Aurora gutted one apartment and damaged the apartments above and below it.
The fire erupted in late afternoon in a 24-unit apartment building at 11225 E. Alameda Ave. Battalion chief Mark Stephenson said nobody was injured, but residents were fortunate that the fire started in daylight.
“If this had happened during the night, there would have been fatalities,” he said.
The fire was spotted by Aurora police at 4:47 p.m. By the time firefighters arrived, one apartment was in flames, and the fire was spreading to the apartment above. Residents of both apartments, as well as a water-damaged apartment below, have been temporarily relocated by the Red Cross, Stephenson said.
Firefighters put the fire out with a “very aggressive interior attack,” he said. “That was the only way we saved the building.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Stephenson said residents escaped on their own, but firefighters did rescue a cat and a ferret.
He expects it will be weeks to months before the burned and damaged apartments can be inhabited again.
