AVON — Nine year-old Taylor De Leon had a hand in saving her family and other residents in a condominium in this ski resort when she woke and smelled smoke.
Smoke detectors in the condo where she was staying with her grandmother, parents and three siblings, failed to go off when a fire broke out in the ceiling, said Eagle River Fire Protection District Chief Charles Moore.
Emergency workers evacuated more than 20 people from the Stone Creek Condominium, at 760 West Beaver Creek Blvd., after the fire started at about 5:30 this morning.
“I woke up one time and I smelled smoke and I thought that it was just downstairs in the fire place. The second time I woke up and my bathroom door was glowing,” said De Leon, student at Lone Tree Elementary School.
Taylor woke her grandmother, who grabbed Taylor’s sister, Christie, 3, and ran downstairs where the rest of the family was staying.
“I woke up to hollering and screaming and footsteps running downstairs and my mom was calling fire,” said Aundrea De Leon, 39, Taylor’s mother.
De Leon and her husband, Robert De Leon, 43, were helping De Leon’s mother, Christie Banowetz, 57, who is moving to Avon for a job with Title Company of the Rockies.
Also staying in the unit at Stone Creek Condominiums were De Leon’s daughters Linley, 2, and her son Christopher, 12.
De Leon’s cat and two dogs and a cat owned by Banowetz were also staying at the condo.
The family lives in Highlands Ranch.
Police evacuated 20 to 25 occupants and pets to the nearby Avon Elementary School for safety and warmth, Moore said. The Salvation Army provided food and other basic needs.
One occupant of the building suffered irritation from the smoke, but there were no other injuries.
The fire is currently under investigation, but appears to have started in the area of a bathroom fan.
“The fire burned through some structural supports on the roof, and firefighters found it necessary to cut that portion of the roof away to access the fire and extinguish it,” said Moore.
The fire was contained to the unit the De Leon’s were staying in. The preliminary estimate of damage is approximately $75,000.
Residents of the unaffected units were returned to their homes around 8:30 a.m.
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
