Metro Denver Area Fires - March of 2007

This fire occurred around 2100 hours on Sunday March 4th, 2007 at the Lakewood Church of the Nazarene on Dover Street, just north of Colfax. The church complex includes several buildings and the fire damaged a building which houses the daycare center. West Metro firefighters contained the fire to the one building and kept it out of two attached exposures.

Just a quick word on fire buffing in the age of technology. I found three “tools” to be invaluable on this trip. The first is the paging system provided by Mountain News Net. Jim Richardson and his crew of dispatchers provided “tips” on area fires when I was not able to have a scanner in hand and I found the information paged to be timely and accurate. Speaking of scanners, since most of the fire departments on the Front Range have made the switch to “800” my Uniden® Trunk Tracker IV was put to the test. Aside from some things I would have liked to see Uniden® design a little differently, the radio worked great. It also seems that the type of buffing I was familiar with on the East Coast does not occur in some places, and I was my own tour guide on this adventure. Because of that my recently acquired Garmin® Street Pilot provided directions as to where I was going. All-in-all, it was a good trip for taking in a few fires and putting the camera to work.

On Monday March 5th, 2007 I discovered that the firehouse for Engine Company 26 and Truck Company 26 at Pontiac Street & 38th Avenue had been shut down. I “found” this station the first time Lori & I visited Johnson & Wales University. I stepped out on the balcony of the hotel we were staying at the time and said, “Hey Honey look, a Firehouse!” She also noted that if she had not made the reservations herself, she would have thought I arranged being in viewing distance of the station. Sad it see it shut down, the building which had been in service since March 31st, 1960 just gives the impression of what a firehouse should look like.

I had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Jon Hill of the Aurora Fire Department. Lieutenant Hill is now assigned to the Rocky Mountain Fire Academy, which is jointly operated by the Denver and Aurora Fire Departments. Jon was functioning as the Safety Officer for a live burn exercise conducted for a group of North Metro Fire District recruits. These photos were shot on Wednesday March 7th, 2007 at around 0900 hours.

This residential fire occurred in the 3500 Block of Grape Street in Denver on Wednesday March 7th, 2007 at approximately 1000 hours. I was just returning to our hotel from taking photos at the Rocky Mountain Fire Academy when the call came in. The fire appeared to have started in the home’s basement and was brought under control by the 1st Alarm assignment. Engine 26 must have been in the area of our hotel and I was able to take two shots of them as they were responding.

A fire broke out in a Denver warehouse building near 29th Street and Arkins Court on Wednesday March 7th, 2007 at approximately 2110 hours. First due units were responding to a report of a fire in a truck, but when they arrived on scene they found that the fire was in the building. The warehouse is owned by Colo-Mex Foods and companies had the fire under control by 2200 hours.