55+ apartments on west side of Colorado Springs evacuated due to power outage

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) evacuated an apartment building on the west side of town that caters to seniors Monday night due to a power outage in the building.

CSFD said the power will be out at the Regency Tower 55+ apartment for the next two days. The building is located at 921 Green Star Dr. in Colorado Springs. This is on the west side of town off of 8th Street.

According to a fire commanded at the scene, the emergency started around 3:30 Monday afternoon when residents reported the outage immediately after a plume of black smoke and flames were seen coming from the side of the building.

CSFD and utility crews responded immediately and soon determined that residents would not be allowed to stay in the building. CSFD said they had 25 firefighters on scene assisting.

Monday night, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) said that a fault on private equipment at the Regency Tower damaged a transformer and they were working to replace it. CSU added that power cannot be fully restored until the owners of the apartment building have the private equipment repaired. Once this is done, CSU crews will return and re-energize the property.

Just after 8:30 p.m., CSFD said that all residents had been safely evacuated and they were clearing the scene.