6 Horses Killed In Suspicious Early Morning Barn Fire
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - Six horses were killed as West Metro Fire Rescue firefighters responded to at least four suspicious fires in Lakewood.
Their morning started at 2:45 a.m. Saturday when they were called to a dumpster off of 3rd Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.
Shortly after the first dumpster fire, they were called to a tire fire in the same area.
Then, approximately 15 minutes later, they responded to a barn fire, again in the same neighborhood.
West Metro firefighters say the barn on the 5400 block of West 3rd Avenue caught fire with ten horses inside - six were not able to escape the flames.
Armando and Manuela Sanchez live across the street.
"People knocking on my door and said 'Hey there's a fire over there,'" said Armando. "I saw a little fire, but I know it was going to get bigger. After 20 minutes it was huge."
"Everything was on fire. I was afraid especially because my son's car was right there, and I was thinking the car is going to explode," Manuela said.
She then remembered she had heard some people talking outside her bedroom window before the fires.
When she inspected the area she found a burn patch. Luckily, the fire didn't spread.
"I think because the grass is green and still wet," she said.
While crews were fighting that fire a fourth call came in; another dumpster fire.
"We were cutting people loose from here to go to that. So it's just like,'Wow what's next?'" said WMFR Assistant Chief Gary Armstrong.
The fires erupted between 3rd and 22nd Avenues along Sheridan Boulevard. Investigators don't believe they were coincidence.
"Certainly it makes us think, wow this is really suspicious," Armstrong said.
Authorities have not arrested anyone as of late Saturday morning.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries but is expected to be okay. No one else was hurt.
Michael Abeyta is a 4th generation Coloradan and a Multimedia Journalist for CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 5 & 6. He is on Twitter! Follow him @AbeytaCBS4.