One adult and one child were taken to a burn unit at a Denver hospital this morning after an intense fire swept through a Colorado Springs home.
Twelve people were in the 20-year-old home at 1543 Chesham Circle when the fire was first reported about 3:40 a.m., according to Colorado Springs Fire Captain Robert Coffey.
He said six people – five of them children – were taken to hospitals. Four of the six were treated and released.
Coffey said that the fire was reported by multiple people living in the neighborhood. When the first firefighters arrived, they found the garage and two cars outside the garage fully engulfed. Flames were shooting from the garage into the home and as high as 25 feet into the sky.
Because of the intensity of the fire, Coffey said firemen sprayed the adjacent homes with water. High winds “created a pretty significant fire. It was a wind-driven fire,” said the fire captain.
He said that in early morning fires, residents often are trapped because they are asleep and unaware of the fire.
Here, he said, all 12 people in the home were out by the time the first units arrived. He said he did not know if the residents were alerted by the home’s smoke alarms.
Coffey said he children in the home ranged in age from 2 to 17 years old.
He said two dogs and a cat may have died in the fire, although their remains have not yet been found.
It took firefighters about an hour and 40 minutes to bring the fire under control.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Investigators from the fire department and Colorado Springs Police Department are at the scene.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
