Re: “Large Denver fire kills one person, leaves one missing and one person in critical condition,” March 7 news story.
When I learned ofWednesday’s total destruction of the apartments being built at 18th Avenue and Emerson Street, I recalled a with iconic developer and historic preservationist Dana Crawford. When asked about the construction boom in Denver, she stated: “I say we’re just building a plywood city that 15 years from now isn’t going to hold up.”
Prophetic wordsthat, in light of the large number of “plywood” apartments being constructed all over Denver, will probably come back to haunt us for years to come. Imagine the disaster if the building that burned Wednesday had been one of the recentcity-block-sized wood frame buildings instead of this modestly sized one?
I think that something like the large mixed-use buildings going up along Welton Street, southwest of Park Avenue, that use steel studs instead of wood, might be a prudent requirement for large, non-concrete structures.
Richard Luna,Boulder
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