A $1.5 million vacation home was lost to fire in north La Plata County late Friday night and early Saturday as several circumstances challenged crews who battled the blaze.
Durango Fire Protection District crews responded to a call from the Twilight Peaks subdivision near the Needles County Store about 11 p.m., Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said.
“We had a report of smoke visible from inside the structure,” Hanks said. “When we arrived, we found that residents had evacuated, and we went into a offensive attack on that fire.”
She said crews worked for four hours trying to control the fire, which consumed the home owned by an Arizona family. Hanks said the home was valued at $1.5 million.
The fire “got in between the ceiling and the roof,” she said, despite significant efforts by firefighters.
The fire is believed to have originated in the shaft behind a propane-fueled fireplace.
Hanks said the home had sprinklers installed but not in walls or the attic.
“We just weren’t gaining,” she said. “Being in the roof where all of those structural components were, we began to worry about the structure above everybody’s head.”
Hanks said after a loss of water pressure from the immediate water system, crews were unable to maintain the heavy streams that were needed.
“Those (water) systems are just not quite as robust,” she said. “We had to drop in size of the hose and went into a defensive posture from the outside, the end result just holding it there until it’s over.”
Thrity-six Durango Fire Protection District firefighters and three from Upper Pine River Fire Protection District fought the flames.
“There were just a lot of challenges on a home like that,” Hanks said, citing its location on a dead-end road. “We can’t get in, drop the water and leave again.”
She also said crews were reluctant to quit.
“One of the things that firemen don’t do very well is stop,” she said. “They don’t give up very well.”
Hanks said she uses every fire as a learning opportunity, and she advised people to leave windows and doors closed, keeping air from the fire.
“When I’m looking at how it happened, I realize these are things that we just don’t generally talk to the public about,” she said. “Keep the doors and windows closed.”
bmathis@durangoherald.com
