Residents Try To Recover After Destructive Apartment Fire
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) — Multiple families are without a home after a fire tore through their condominium in the early hours of Dec. 21. The fire started around 1 a.m. at the Greystoke Apartments on South Reed Street near Wadsworth Boulevard and Chatfield Avenue.
It wasn't long before the building was engulfed with flames, forcing firefighters to use ladders to search for residents on the second and third levels of the building.
A couple displaced by the fire lost not lonely their condo, but their car. The damage is so severe, they told CBS4 they won't be back in their unit until this time next year.
"It was the one time I had shoes by my bed. I saw all the rocks below me, and I was lucky I had shoes," said a woman who lives on the second floor. She had to jump from a window to escape the fire.
The woman, who wishes to remain unidentified, was still wearing those shoes Monday, while speaking with CBS4's Tori Mason. She and several others were trapped and jumped from their windows to safety.
"[My boyfriend] touched the door and burned his finger. He heard the crackling and said we have to get out of here. It was the adrenaline. You don't feel anything, you just go. I'm still numb. I haven't had a chance to grieve," she told Mason.
She says it hasn't set in that her home is gone. Her car was damaged and her personal belongings destroyed, but she could only think of her youngest neighbors.
"My friend is going to let me borrow one of her vehicles. It's all going to work out and we're alive," she said. "But kids have certain things that they love. Their toy, their binkies, their blankets and stuffies. I worry more about the people who have children," the woman said.
She told CBS4 she's thankful for everyone who donated to the GoFundMe created by the HOA, but many adults and children are still in need of basic necessities, like clothing.
She's hopeful the community will help replace what those children lost.
She told CBS4 there are least three children who lived in that building who are displaced. She recalls two boys around the ages of 11 and 5, and a girl who's also around 5.
Donations can be made online.
The man accused of setting the fire was advised of his charges last week.