Arvada police take courageous steps in evacuating residents from fatal apartment fire

Body camera footage from Arvada police shows the courageous first steps officers took to evacuate residents from a fatal apartment fire. 

"Arvada police! Everybody exit the building!" 

Arvada police were already on the scene at the Village West Apartments for an unrelated call when the fire broke out. The body camera footage from Arvada Officer Duffey shows the initial response.

Footage shows Duffey frantically trying to alert residents to the fire by pounding on doors while trying to gain entrance to the building. Responders told CBS News Colorado, the building was locked from the outside but they were able to gain entrance from a ground-floor patio.

Within minutes of Duffey's response, he encountered a tenant who told him that his mother was still trapped inside. 

"I got one resident not out of the burning apartment and he's advising that his mom is still inside... by the bathroom… I can't get in."

The unit on the ground floor was fully engulfed- there was nothing Duffey could do.

Officials have confirmed the death of one person, but did not release an identity. They say an unknown number of pets also died in the blaze.

Two residents, an Arvada police officer, and a sergeant were also taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but are expected to survive. 

The officers were treated for smoke inhalation and released from the hospital several hours later, a spokesperson for Arvada police said. 

The fire began just after midnight Wednesday morning. At least four of the units are a total loss due to smoke and fire. 

"I heeard the pounding on the door. Opened the door, saw the smoke, slammed it shut and went and woke up my kids and husband," Jackie Adams said. 

Adams, who lives on the second floor, said she woke up to the pounding of someone on her door, but the smoke was so bad, she took her husband and two children to the balcony. 

"Everybody's like 'jump!', I was like I am not going to jump off a two story building... NO!" 

Fortunately for Adams, she said the fire department was on the scene quickly and ready to assist with a ladder.

Adams said her children reluctantly went first, then she grabbed the pet lizards. 

"I just put them on my chest threw a blanket over them and just climbed down, " Adams said. 

According to investigators, a fire door that was supposed to be closed on the second floor was left ajar, which caused a significant amount of smoke to pour from the first floor, into the second-floor hallway.

"The smoke was really bad," said one tenant who didn't want to be identified. 

This tenant, also on the second floor near Adams, said she was proud of the way her five children handled the situation, but it wasn't easy. 

"To have seen how disoriented it made them and their ability to think in a situation, after being woken up after a deep sleep.... it just made me really think I should've taken the time to talk about what we would do in a case like this," she said. 

An RTD bus was brought in to help keep those who were displaced warm as crews process the scene. The Red Cross has helped with temporary shelter for those displaced but for most, the fire adds unbearable stress to the holiday season.  

The cause and origin are still under investigation.

For those in the Denver area in need of housing resources following this, or a similar disaster, can contact the American Red Cross in Colorado: https://rdcrss.org/3W1TjOT