41 people displaced after Lionstone apartment fire, cause still unknown

An entire building at the Village at Lionstone Apartments is unlivable after a fire that started Monday evening.

Forty-one people are without a place to call home, three are injured and three pets are dead. Captain Brian Vaughan with the Colorado Springs Fire Department said investigators haven’t yet figured out how it was sparked, but they know it started outside.

He said, “I’ll only say it started outside because of the large body that existed outside, it is pointing that way, but we can’t precisely say where outside it started.”

Yesenia Espinoza, a mother of three lost everything inside their first level apartment. She found it was burning when a friend sent her a video on Facebook. Espinoza said, “My friend called me and asked where I’m at, and I told her I’m at the store. She told me my house was burning and when I came back I saw all this fire.”

She’s lived at the Lionstone Apartments for over two years, but she just moved into her new unit six months ago because it was on the first floor. “I live really happy like I said, I love these apartments and I have a lot of memories in these apartments and now it’s burned,” Espinoza said.

A total of 14 units were affected, 12 in the original building and two others next door, that has some water and smoke damage.

Fire crews are expected to be on the scene for at least another day cleaning up what they can before turning the property back over to the apartment complex.