A blaze at a South Denver apartment complex left one person dead, multiple injured, and residents of 23 units displaced early Saturday morning, authorities with the South Metro Fire Rescue said.
Firefighters responded to the Ivy Crossing apartments at 2380 S. Quebec St. shortly after receiving calls at 4 a.m. about hallways filled with smoke and flames. Firefighters on their way to the scene could see flames from their fire station two miles away.
"Many residents were trapped inside their apartments which forced some people to jump out windows," officials stated.
Arapahoe County Sheriff's deputies and firefighters helped residents get to safety, rescuing residents trapped on balconies. Officials said that emergency personnel arrived at a scene where flames had already consumed the building's entire second- and third-floor hallways, both stairwells and had extended into multiple apartments. They "encountered extreme heat as they pushed through the building with hose lines searching for people trapped."
During the search, firefighters discovered one body and removed it from the building. Two other people were transported to a local hospital, one in critical condition and the other in serious condition.
Two firefighters also sustained minor injuries a few hours into the incident and were transported to the hospital.
Officials said the apartment complex was not equipped with fire sprinklers due to the age of the building's construction. Prior to this incident, South Metro Fire's marshal's office was working with property management to retrofit building alarm systems to better notify residents of a fire.
About 80 personnel from South Metro, Aurora Fire and Denver Fire departments worked for more than two hours to get the incident under control. Firefighters continued to extinguish hot spots into Saturday morning. Arapahoe Rescue Patrol and Denver Police Department also assisted.
