A smoky, intense apartment fire early Monday sent residents scurrying for safety, including two men who rappelled from a third-floor balcony.
The fire broke out just before 6:30 a.m. at 10700 E. Dartmouth Ave., said Lt. Phil Champagne, Denver Fire Department spokesman.
One resident, a woman, was taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation, and another resident, also a woman, was treated at the scene and released, Champagne said.
The fire, which raced up the side of the three-story building at Kennedy Ridge Apartments, displaced more than a dozen residents.
Chris Lucero, 23, a commercial window washer who also mountain climbs, tied rope from his third-floor balcony so he could escape.
Lucero said he had just awakened when a next-door neighbor came bursting into his apartment yelling, “Fire! Fire! Fire!”
The neighbor had tried to exit down an enclosed stairwell, but it was full of blinding smoke. The two men decided to rappel from Lucero’s balcony, part of an interior unit adjacent to the corner of the building that was in flames.
Lucero called 911 and then double-looped climbing rope around a “beam” supporting the balcony. The neighbor went first.
Another resident, Michael Karnicki, 42, said he was alerted by people rushing from door to door.
Safely out of his ground-floor apartment, Karnicki went toward a unit next to his to see whether he could determine if anyone was inside.
Karnicki said he could get within only about 10 feet. Smoke and “subdued” flames kept him away. “Two minutes after that, it went shooting up to the top floor,” Karnicki said.
The fire torched a corner of Building K, from the garden level to the roof. Three units were gutted. Several other units suffered heavy smoke and water damage.
About 40 Denver firefighters put out the blaze in about 40 minutes. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Champagne said.
Later that morning, victims gathered in the leasing office and clubhouse to stay warm.
Danielle Gonzales, 25, who lives in a nearby building in the same complex, watched as firefighters worked their way through the units. “It’s sad,” she said. “I was just hoping the whole thing (building) didn’t go up. I was hoping no one was inside.”
