RAINBO WRECK - 1945

On May 9, 1945, Pueblo firefighter Joseph F. Robida died when a Rainbo Bread truck crashed into the rear of Engine Company 4.

Robida, 41, suffered a skull fracture.

Firefighter Joseph Ferraro, riding on the back-step with Robida, was injured. The bread truck driver was also hurt.

The collision occurred at intersection of Mesa and Lake as Engine 4 was responding to an alarm at 512 Acero Avenue, according to the Pueblo Fire Museum.

Robida -- nicknamed "Beets" -- was the son of Yugoslav immigrants. He earned his nickname for one of his many jobs, hauling beets.

Robida's son John, a schoolboy at the time of the accident, said in a 2015 interview with the Chieftain newspaper:

"I was confused, but I had a lot of uncles and they helped us. They told me ‘God needed a firefighter in heaven. God came down and took your dad.’ I thought that was an honor, and it helped me with my pain.”  

Recalling the funeral, he told the Chieftain:

"Firefighters from Denver, Colorado Springs and all over attended. It was a major event. I thought my dad was kind of a president."

FORT COLLINS CHIEF - 1965

Photos: Fort Collins Public Library, Poudre Valley Fire Authority

On June 29, 1965, Clifford Carpenter, Fort Collins fire chief, was killed by falling bricks and mortar at the State Dry Goods store fire.

Carpenter, 49, was directing hose lines at the building College and Oak streets when an exterior wall gave way, according to the Fort Collins History Connection and Poudre Valley Fire Authority.

Firefighter Jim Witchel was injured.

The cause was determined to be an electrical timer that controlled the lights in the dry goods store show window.

Newspapers published photographs of the chief, in his white helmet, in the seconds leading to his death.

According to the Poudre Fire Authority, successor of the Fort Collins Fire Department:

"At about 9:30 p.m., an electrical timer that controlled the lights in the show window of the State Dry Goods store at College Avenue and Oak Street malfunctioned and the brief shower of sparks ignited combustible material. 

"The fire quickly spread, but was not immediately noticed because the darkly painted walls of the show window made the interior of the store invisible from the sidewalk.

"The fire burned for about an hour, slowly increasing the interior pressure to the point where one of the large windows exploded, showering shards of glass across the sidewalk and into the middle of the street.

"The oxygen that was sucked inside, caused the interior to erupt into an inferno.  By the time the Fire Department arrived, the building was fully involved.

"Mutual aid was requested from the LaPorte Volunteer Fire Department, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Loveland Fire Department.  All off-duty firefighters were called in as well.

"Chief Carpenter was notified of the alarm via the telephone extension installed in his home and responded to take command.

"He noticed that the south wall had a slight bulge in the middle and decided to go around to the south side to order the men handling the lines to back off.

 "As he and Firefighter Jim Witchel took a 1 1/2 inch charged line in close to the building to check the area where the gas meters were located, the wall collapsed covering Witchel and Carpenter with bricks and stone." 

Edward Yonker was appointed to replace Carpenter as fire chief.

Store owner Bob Johnson, in an oral history documented by his daughter Diane Thornton, recalled:

"Not only was most of our merchandise and building destroyed that night in the fire, all of our accounts and debts owed to us were burned as well. We had no record of who owed us what, and we had no way to track it down. As my brother-in-law and I worked to rebuild what we had lost, a miraculous thing occurred. Every day people of our town would stop by to give us money they owed to the department store.

"That's Fort Collins. The buildings come and go. But the people, the people have made this into a great city of big dreams and even bigger integrity."

MONTANA FAIR - 1941

Three-thousand people fled a fire that destroyed the grandstands at the Western Montana Fair in Missoula on Aug. 21, 1941.

The fire also destroyed a livestock building, automobiles and "the tepee village of the Flathead Indian tribe," the United Press reported.

Horses and other livestock were cut loose and trotted away with the rest of the crowd.

PUEBLO HIGH SCHOOL - 1917

On Feb. 26, 1917, fire gutted Pueblo Central High School, toppling the western wall.

Firefighters were forced out when flames overtook the stairwells and battled the blaze from ladders set on slushy snow. The high school had open hallways and no fire stops along the roof, allowing the fire to rage. 

The Pueblo Chieftain newspaper said the fire broke out on the fourth floor along Orman Avenue and spread to a new addition, which included an auditorium.

Fire Chief Sam Christy "was obliged to use all engine streams, the pressure at the hydrants being only 40 pounds and the nearest plugs requiring not less than 500 feet of hose," according to the magazine Fire Engineering. "He used seven engine streams, having 3,100 feet of hose in use, one length bursting." 

The following apparatus attended the fire, according to the magazine:

1 Metropolitan pumping engine
1 Victor motor pumping engine
3 combination hose and chemical wagons
2 two LaFrance hose and chemical wagons
1 75-foot aerial ladder truck.

INTER-OCEAN HOTEL - 1916

On Dec. 17, 1916, a fire at the downtown Inter-Ocean Hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming, killed a family of six and destroyed the building.

The father was electrocuted after falling on a power line. His wife and the couple's four sons suffocated.

Following account was published in the Casper Star-Tribune: 

ELIZABETH - 1947

Citizens formed a bucket brigade to stop a fire from destroying a swath of Elizabeth, Colorado, on March 14, 1947.

The city lacked an organized fire department.

Denver, Aurora, Littleton and Castle Rock sent crews after an appeal from the town's telephone operator.

 A faulty acetylene torch was the likely cause of the fire at Jones Motor Co., 381 Kiowa Ave., according to municipal files.

COLD CASE -1982

Colorado Bureau of Investigation Files 

On Oct. 20 1982, Timothy Dodson, 10, David Nuetzmann, 4, and Michael Nuetzmann, 1, died of smoke inhalation in an arson fire at Valley View Estates mobile home park, 1201 W 92nd Ave., Thornton. The suspect(s) have yet to be identified. Anyone with information is asked call the Thornton Police Department.

CALIFORNIA MUTUAL AID

Photo: Denver Fire Dept.

In September 2019, the Denver Fire Department sent Wildfire Engine 301 and a crew of four to southern California on a long-distance mutual aid run.

STEPPED IN A VAT - 1930

"Guy Walker, Deputy Chief of Denver, Colo., was scalded on the right side and right leg when he stepped into a vat of boiling water while the department was fighting a fire in a crate and basket plant. Lights had been turned off. Chief Walker was making his way through a dark, smoke-filled room when he stumbled into the vat used for steaming logs. He got out unassisted. and after receiving emergency treatment, was taken to the Denver General Hospital." - Fire Engineering, March 5, 1930

UNITED AIR LINES 629

Photo: FBI
Flight 626 debris in hangar

On Nov. 1, 1955, a bomb blast tore through United Air Lines Flight 629 bound for Portland  from Stapleton Airport in Denver.

The DC-6 aircraft crashed near Longmont,  killing all 44 aboard.

Eyewitness Bud Lang said it  "looked like a shooting star coming down."

There was little for rescuers to do except recover bodies.

The bomber was tried and executed within 15 months for planting the bomb to collect on a life insurance policy on his mother, a passenger on the flight.

MIDWEST REFINING - 1921

On June 17, 1921, it set ablaze the Midwest Refining Co. tank farm in Casper, Wyoming.

Flames raged for 48 hours and consumed 360,000 barrels of oil even after application of chemicals, according to the Associated Press.

Casper "was darkened by billows of smoke which spread over it," the Ogden Standard-Examiner, a Utah newspaper, reported. "The blaze continued under a downpour of rain which approached a cloudburst. ... More than one thousand men were rushed to the scene to protect other tanks."

Lightning struck again on July 2, 13 and 18,  according to a History of Natrona County, Wyoming.

JOHNSON HOTEL - 1955

UPDATED APRIL 2024

Laramie Fire Chief Blake Fanning surveys charred lobby 

A March 15, 1955 fire at the Johnson Hotel in Laramie, Wyoming, claimed seven lives - including a retired rodeo rider who performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

"The stairs were a sheet of flame," survivor Alfred Warner said. "I climbed out the window and hung onto the hotel sign."

The blaze - blamed on a cigarette - started behind the lobby on the main floor of the two-story hotel at 103 Grand St., where 26 guest were bunking for the night. The building was 55 years old, with 36 rooms and a cafe.

Six victims died at the scene, and the Associated Press reported the seventh died March 19 at Laramie's Ivinson Memorial Hospital.

The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. and the last flame was extinguished at 5:30 am., the United Press reported. The hotel register was destroyed in the fire, delaying identification of the victims, UP said.

Fire Chief Blake Fanning told the Laramie Boomerang newspaper:

"When we arrived smokes was pouring out all the front windows of the building and men were leaning from the windows, hanging from the two signs at the front and shouting from the roof of the adjoining building.

"The heat was so terrific we couldn't get in the upstairs and we couldn't reach the inside rooms where we could hear men yelling."

Among the dead was retired rodeo rider Ed "Boots" Smith, who toured Europe in the early 1900s as a member of the Buffalo Bill Cody and Gandy Brothers Wild West shows, according to a wire service report.

DON HOGAN - 1927

Don Hogan

On Aug. 8, 1927, a three-alarm arson fire gutted an auto dealership owned by football star and aviator Don Hogan at 1227 Broadway in Denver - and Hogan plead guilty to the crime before the year was out.

Prosecutors accused Hogan of intending to defraud the Mercantile Insurance Company of America, which insured the property. Two of his employees, Rex Conley and Joe Crenshaw, were also arrested.  Twenty-five cars and the entire stock of parts were destroyed.

The three alarms brought 200 Denver firefighters and 27 pieces of apparatus to the scene - a major response . Truck driver Paul Dretzler, of 4601 Williams St., Denver, spotted the fire at about 2 a.m., and told police two men tried to stop him from turning in the alarm from a fire box.

Immediately after the blaze, Hogan declared it was arson, citing charred bunting between cars stored in the basement and charred paper between steps leading to the basement, The Rocky Mountain News said. Hogan also insisted he was at a loss to say who started the blaze.

After pleading guilty on Oct 29, Hogan "left in his own car immediately for Canyon City in custody of a deputy sheriff" to serve his prison sentence, according to a United Press dispatch.

Flames from Hogan's building damaged the neighboring Permo Washing Co. and Stephens Miller, Inc., the News said. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Hogan's dealership sold Rickenbacker and Kissel automobiles. These weren't popular. Rickenbacker halted production in 1927 and Kissel filed bankruptcy in 1931, according to Wikipedia.

HOSPITAL FIRES

On Feb. 14, 1906, fire burned through the ceiling of the laundry at the Denver city and county hospital, the Aspen Daily Times reported. On March 8, 1920, fire ignited by sparks from a power plant smokestack destroyed the men's building housing 40 patients at the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society, the Oak Creek Times said. 

MISSOULA - 1943

On New Year's Day 1942, fire tore through a swath of downtown Miussoula, Montana - destroying the Shaphard Hotel, Gamble Stores and Yandt's Men's Wear. Flames brought down the hotel roof. Note the limited number of hose lines in these photographs.

PUEBLO WAREHOUSE - 2007

Photo: Pueblo Fire Museum

On Oct. 23, 2007, flames shooting 50 feet into the sky destroyed the abandoned Pueblo Storage Warehouse.

A passerby stopped at Fire Station No.1 just after midnight to sound the alarm, which brought 10 engines and aerial ladders to the scene. The blaze was contained at about 2:50 a.m.  The roof and second-story floor collapsed.

The ice house at 205 West Elizabeth Street had been condemned three years earlier but transients used it for shelter.

The Chieftain newspaper reported:

"It was not the building’s first brush with disaster.

"Formerly known as Mountain Ice and Coal Co. - founded in 1896 - an empty 100-gallon water heater exploded and ruptured an ammonia pipe in February 1980.

"Lynn L. Belcher, 81, the company’s former president of 40 years, died from injuries sustained in the explosion.

"A police sergeant and Pueblo Chieftain sports writer Mike Spence were hospitalized when an ammonia cloud swept through the Midtown Shopping Center, forcing a nine-block evacuation.

"In 1908, the building burned and was quickly restored; no injuries were reported."

RUNS & WORKERS

Photo: Greely Fire Department
The Greeley Fire Department battled a ferocious blaze at seed company during February 2006 blizzard.

Photo: Gary C. Chancey, USDA Forest Service 
Firefighter Seth Tuuri, of the Black Hills National Forest Bearlodge Ranger District, battles a structure fire near Aladdin, Wyoming, in 2004.

"Colorado Springs, July 19th. At 3 o’clock this morning lightning struck the beautiful Broadmoor Casino, near Cheyenne canon, starting fire which completely destroyed the building, and causing a loss of nearly $50,000. The magnificent new hotel adjoining was saved. The building was erected six years ago. It was two stories high, two hundred feet long and seventy-five feet deep." - Grand Junction Sentinel - July 1897

Photo: Michael Rieger/FEMA
Four Mile Fire District apparatus mopping up at the Old Stage Fire near Boulder, Colorado, on Jan. 8, 2009. The International WorkStar tanker was acquired through a FEMA grant.

On Aug. 21, 1965, fire struck the A. J. Anderson Lumber Co. yard in Fort Collins, causing extensive damage. The Fort Collins Fire Department sent four rigs, including its snorkel. Mutual aid responded from LaPorte. LeRoy Beers, acting fire chief, was in command. 

DENVER STOCKYARDS - 1921

Photo: Denver Public Library 

Fire Engineering
Oct. 1, 1921

Denver, Colo.—A fire at the Denver stock yards, July 11th, brought forth the appeals of a special alarm. However, later events proved that this was done for precautionary measures and not because of any necessity.

The cattle became frantic, the same as you and I would, if flames were creeping upon us from behind, and the poor things bellowed piteously.

The fire laddies succeeded in opening the pens, and then the animals stampeded, as was expected, but to enable the men to work upon the fire it was necessary to drive the cattle out of the way and that was done by playing several streams of water upon them.

During the time necessary to do this, Fire Chief John Healy sent the special alarm and later on he said:

“I thought when I first saw the fire that it was going to sweep the whole yards. Because of the struggling and bellowing cattle, it gave us one of the hardest fights I have ever participated in. I believe that the firse started from a cigar or a match dropped from the run-away over the pen.”

Owing to the splendid work of the fire department, only four of the dumb beasts were destroyed and the loss it is stated may be covered by five thousand dollars.

Anyone caught smoking in such a place ought to be soused in a hog trough.

HUNGARIAN MILLS - 1908

On Oct. 21, 1908, fire destroyed a five-story grain elevator at the Hungarian Mills at Seventh Street and Wazee streets in Denver's lower downtown.

The plant was named for a milling process developed in Hungary.

Flames were beyond the reach of Denver Fire Department hose lines and roared out of control for an hour, according to the Herald Democrat of Leadville. "The height of the building made it difficult to throw water to the top," the newspaper said.

As the mill burned, the office staff rescued the books and workers struggled to save anything that wasn't nailed down.

The Nov. 25, 1908 edition of Fire Engineering magazine said:

"When Chief T. F. Owens and the department arrived on the scene, they found that the fire, which had been set in the wagon shed and had spread thence to the bottom of an air-flue, was blazing furiously. It had made its way up the flue and involved 75 ft. of the roof."

The magazine said the bulk of the city's fire apparatus responded:

"The alarm brought to the spot six engines a Continental, a Silsby, an American LaFrance and 3 Metropolitan — with, of course, hose wagons and aerial and other trucks.

"The apparatus kept throwing continuously nineteen streams (four being hydrant) through 7,750 ft. of cotton, rubber-lined hose, which was of such first rate quality that it withstood the heavy strain on it for so long a time without one single length showing the slightest sign of weakness.

"Besides the ordinary 1 1/4-in. nozzles used, there were also brought to bear upon the flames streams from an Eastman Deluge set and two Hart nozzles ... the water supply is gravity, furnished by the Denver Union Waterworks company."

Fire also visited the Hungarian Mills on March 7, 1899, "rendering nearly valueless 500 bushels of wheat," the Leadville Herald Democrat reported. The fire originated in a dust room. "The work of the firemen was retarded by frozen water pipes," the newspaper said.

Fires also struck the Hungarian Mills on Nov. 21, 1930, April 27, 1943, Dec. 21, 1949 and Oct. 26, 1952.   

STORM KING - 1994

On July 6, 1994, the Storm King Mountain wildfire claimed the lives of 14 forest service firefighters - the greatest loss of life in Colorado fire service history.

Lightning touched off the blaze two days earlier. Shifting winds fanned flames that trapped the firefighters.

Here are the details:

Glenwood Springs, Colo. (AP) - A swift wildfire whipped by high winds roared over a steep mountainside, trapping 50 firefighters. Twelve were killed and two were missing today in one of the country's deadliest such disasters.

The firefighters were trapped Wednesday about 7,000 feet up the rugged slope of Storm King Mountain, where the rough terrain left them no place to flee, said Garfield County Undersheriff Levy Burris.

The survivors escaped to burned-over ground where the fire could not take hold, then straggled out when the danger passed, Gov. Roy Romer said at a news conference Wednesday night.

This morning, he said the initial count of 11 dead had risen to 12, and two firefighters were still missing.

"The search will begin just as soon as daylight arrives," Romer said. "It just reminds us all of the great tragedy that can occur when you're dealing with fire," he said.

He said the families of the firefighters had not been notified because the victims had not been positively identified.

Romer called for an investigation to determine why so many lives were lost. Weather forecasters had predicted high winds, but firefighters were left in the field.

Fire officials said some of the victims apparently had tried to climb into their fire-shelters, shiny blankets used as shields during flare-ups.

The lightning-sparked fire began Sunday, five miles west of Glenwood Springs. The mountain resort of 6,000 people is between Aspen and Vail about 180 miles west of Denver.

The fire had been confined to 50 acres until high winds fanned it out of control Wednesday afternoon. Within five hours, it grew to 2,000 acres.

_____


From U.S. Fire Administration

On July 6, fourteen wildland firefighters lost their lives when a wind shift resulted in a blow-up fire condition that trapped them on the uphill and downwind position from the fire on Storm King Mountain, Colorado.

The fourteen firefighters included smokejumpers Don Mackey, Roger Roth, and James Thrash; Prineville Hot Shots John Kelso, Kathi Beck, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Tami Bickett, Doug Dunbar, and Terri Hagen; and helitack crew members Richard Tyler and Robert Browning.

Browning and Tyler were killed when their escape route was cut off by a large drop and they were overrun by the fire.

The other firefighters were killed as they moved towards the ridge line to escape the fire advancing towards them from below.

According to witness accounts, the firefighters were unable to see how dangerous their position had become because of a small ridge below them.

They had been moving slowly and were still carrying their equipment as the fire blew up behind them to a height of over 100 feet.

At this point the crew dropped their tools and made an uphill dash for the top of the mountain but only one person made it over to survive.

The fire overran the remaining twelve firefighters and reportedly reached a height of 200 to 300 feet as it crossed over the ridge.

It was estimated to be moving at between 10 and 20 miles per hour at the time of the blow-up.

Several other firefighters in various other locations on the mountain became trapped by the flames but were able to make it to safe positions or deploy their emergency shelters.

Post incident investigations have determined that the crews fighting the fire violated many safety procedures and standard firefighting orders.

RUNS & WORKERS

Aerial ladder 1975 fire

Major fires visited the grungy West Hotel at 1337 California St. in Denver in 1975 and 1982. On Dec. 30, 1975, flames damaged the fourth floor, top. The April 14, 1982 fire injured about a dozen people.

Photo: Brighton Fire Rescue

Photo: Brighton Fire Rescue

On Feb. 8, 2019, flames destroyed the abandoned Arthur Grain Mill on Main Street in Brighton. A squatter's cigarette caused the blaze, investigators said.

Photo: Brighton Fire Rescue

On July 31, 2019, Brighton firefighters battled flames at the vacant Robb's Inc. store with exterior lines after a floor collapse. A firefighter was injured.

Photo: Brighton Fire Rescue
On June 2, 2017, a fire destroyed a commercial building on North Main Street in Brighton, Colorado.

MONTROSE - 1895

"Montrose, Colo., May 10. - C. T. NEHRBRAS, agent for the Deering Machine company of Chicago, lost his life in a fire which destroyed the Arlington hotel. His charred remains have been found in the ruins. MRS. E. H. SMITH, proprietress of the hotel, escaped by jumping from a second story window, but is in a precarious condition from cuts and burns. The house was nearly full of guests, several of whom sustained burns and wounds." - Waterloo Courier, Iowa, May 15, 1895

I-70 INFERNO - 2019

Photo: West Metro Fire

Photo: Channel 7

Photo: Channel 4

Photo: West Metro Fire

Photo: Colorado State Patrol

Photo: West Metro Fire

On April 24, 2019, West Metro firefighters responded to a fiery and fatal 28-vehicle pileup on I-70 west of Denver.

Four people died in the wreckage as vehicle fuel tanks burst on the interstate highway at Colorado Mills Parkway in Lakewood. "It was crash, crash, crash and explosion, explosion, explosion,"  said John Romero, a police spokesman quoted by the Associated Press.

Several other people were injured, including a firefighter hit by debris.

Police said a speeding flatbed truck hauling lumber plowed into slowing traffic, setting off the catastrophic chain reaction.

Neighboring fire departments provided assistance to West Metro. 

COLD CASE - 1989

Colorado Bureau of Investigation Files

Tracey Ragains lived and worked in Colorado Springs, where she was last seen around 3 p.m. on July 8, 1989. The next day her body was found in an irrigation ditch southeast of Erie, Colorado, with stab wounds. Ragains, 17, was a witness to an arson and child sex exploitation case against her former boss, Joe Linton. Anyone with information is asked to call the Weld County Sheriff.

STANDOFF - 2019

On Jan. 27, 2019, a gunman wounded two Denver police officers responding to a 911 call for "shots fired'' near 6th Avenue and Inca Street. A hours-long standoff led to a house fire and the death of the gunman by suicide. 

COLD CASE - 1980

Denver Police Department Files

On Aug. 12, 1980, an arson fire killed Ernest Peterson (pictured), John F. Simmons and Thaddeus Hosey at the Jefferson Hotel at 1529 Champa St. "Upon arrival, the building was engulfed in flames," according to the Denver Police Department. No arrests.

RUNS & WORKERS

On Nov. 16, 2018, a fire and explosion rocked the Heather Gardens adult community in Aurora, Colorado, killing a resident. A firefighter and another person were injured. “Our hearts go out to the many residents who are impacted by this tragedy,'' Aurora Fire Chief Fernando Gray Sr. said.

Photo: Denver International Airport

On Nov. 17, 2018, United Airlines Flight 1941 from Tucson, Arizona, went off a taxiway after landing at Denver International Airport. No injuries reported.

On July 11, 2018, fire swept a recycling plant near Commerce City, Colorado. Two firefighters were injured. Crews were on the scene at Evraz Recycling at 5601 York Street in unincorporated Adams County for about 10 hours.

On June 23, 2018, fire damaged the main building at Marys Lake Lodge in Estes Park. About 250 people - including a wedding party - were safely evacuated. 

|

South Metro Fire Rescue dispatched its airport foam unit to smother a vehicle fire on I-25 near the Denver Tech Center on May 31, 2017.

PUEBLO FLOOD - 1921

Photos: Private Collections 

June 3, 1921

``As the torrential rains fell, the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek quickly began to swell, reaching over 15 feet in some areas before they began to recede. Within two hours from the start of the storm, the entire wholesale district and a greater part of the business district of Pueblo were flooded with water 10 feet deep.

``The entire Arkansas Valley, from 30 miles west of Pueblo to the Colorado–Kansas state line, was severely impacted. Hundreds of people died, with some death toll estimates as high as 1,500. The flood destroyed almost all of the downtown Pueblo area and decimated the city.

``Once the floodwaters receded, the immense damage became all the more visible. The flood, which covered over 300 square miles, carried away over 600 homes and caused upwards of $25 million in damage at the time. By today’s standards, that number would likely be $300 million or more. Railroad passenger coaches and freight cars were swept away in every direction or smashed into kindling.

``A fire even broke out in a lumberyard and burning lumber was carried throughout the city’s streets by the flood. The floodwaters also carried away entire buildings and businesses. Many of the dead were likely carried far down river and never recovered.''

National Centers for Environmental Information