Historic Manitou Springs house gutted by overnight fire
MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A historic home on Burns Road in Manitou Springs was completely destroyed by an overnight fire. The blaze, which witnesses reported around 2 a.m., prompted evacuations for the surrounding area, though no one was injured in the incident. The house, built in 1919, was one of the oldest on the street and overlooked Memorial Park.
The home was nestled into significant vegetation, leading firefighters to fear the fire would spread quickly. This concern for fire propagation led to the evacuation of the entire surrounding area. One neighbor experienced a power outage, but no other nearby structures sustained damage.
Montana Horsfall, a neighbor, described smelling campfire before seeing the extent of the blaze. Horsfall stated she went to bed, smelled campfire and thought "it's probably nothing." Horsfall added she later came out on her porch and "the whole area was covered in smoke. I stood in the park, obviously far enough away, but the heat was still there. The embers were flying. The shock of getting there and seeing a few embers and then seeing it engulfed and then completely collapsed within, what, 45 minutes is shocking."
Sophie, an 85-year-old woman who was renting the home, escaped unharmed.
Don Goede, the property owner, expressed relief that the outcome was not more severe. Goede said, "Everybody all day long was saying, oh, you had an angel looking over you. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised. The wind could have changed. Sophie could have passed away. You know, in the fire. I mean, there's so many things that just could have, could have gone much, much worse."
Video from next door neighbor Mike Pagett shows him spraying down the area around his house with a garden hose, in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading. Luckily, it didn't.
"(I) was very concerned for the residents that were right next to it because Manitou, the houses are so close together and you're standing there watching one just engulfed in flames, and then watched it also collapse," Horsfall said.
"It didn't go anywhere outside this little perimeter," Goede said as he studied the damage. "(It) just stayed exactly where it was at. So we're very lucky in that sense. And of course, that Sophie got out."
According to the El Paso County Assessor's site, the destroyed home was built in 1919 and tied for the oldest on Burns Road. The official cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
A GoFundMe has been setup to help Sophie.
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