Welcome to The Steamboat Springs Fire Department

by Kristen Shew, Steamboat Pilot staff

A river of charred wooden nuggets, singed flakes of the Sunday funnies and twisted heaps of the metal roof still littered the ground of Waterford Townhomes Monday morning after a fire Sunday evening.

Fire investigator Cord Beaty was on-site all day Monday to determine what caused the fire that destroyed two units and severely damaged another. "Everything I have to go on tells me it wasn't arson," Beaty said, although he hasn't ruled it out as a cause just yet.

Police department investigator Ross Kelly and Lt. Rick Crotz were also on hand to assist in the investigation. It will be another two or three days before any determination can be made, Kelly said. "We'd like to go in and tell you 30 minutes later, but we don't have screenwriters," he said.

The Waterford Townhomes are located in a field near the ski area that is bordered on the south by Walton Creek Road and the west by Village Drive.

No one was home in unit 14 when the fire started, Beaty said. Terri Knoll, who was staying in nearby unit 15, noticed smoke coming from the windows of unit 14 around 6 p.m. Sunday and called 911. By the time she walked outside to see what was going on, flames were leaping from the windows.

"It was pouring out the windows," Knoll said. "It had obviously been going on for some time."

Marilyn and Hank Heinly, who have lived in unit 12 for 13 years, left just before 6 p.m. to go for an evening bike ride.

"We saw the smoke from the bike path and I jokingly said 'I hope that isn't our house burning,'" Marilyn Heinly said. It wasn't her house exactly, but it was awfully close.

Firefighters were able to save most of the Heinlys' unit, two units away from where Beaty suspects the fire started, but units 13 and 14 were total losses. The fire had the potential to burn adjoining buildings and spread to nearby Herbage Condominiums via vegetation between the two, but firefighters worked quickly to contain the blaze. No one was injured.

"Needless to say, I think we did a heck of a job," Beaty said.

Steamboat Springs Fire Department sent in 24 volunteer firefighters, and the West Routt Fire Protection District contributed 10 more to battle the blaze. The firefighters attacked the fire from the front with water launched from the top of a 75-foot ladder, and attacked the back with another engine in an effort to stop the spread of flames.

"I think it was an extremely good stop," assistant fire chief Bob Struble said. "That fire had a good head start. We easily could have lost a couple more buildings."

In the aftermath, the Heinlys are figuring out what the fire took with it and what was spared. Marilyn was most concerned the memories that may have been erased.

"The thing I'm most concerned about is family pictures," Marilyn said.

Many of their family pictures were salvaged by employees of Mountain Resorts, but most sustained smoke and water damage and were blackened by ashes.

Beaty and others on hand Monday helped the Heinlys move what was left of their belongings into their car to be put in storage. Hank searched first for medications, heirloom jewelry and Marilyn's purse, then the long, slow process of moving everything out of their home began.

Hank and Marilyn are in the process of building a new home, but it won't be ready until the first part of October. They contracted last Wednesday to put their Waterford unit on the market. Luckily, they were fully insured.

"Right now, we're homeless," Hank Heinly said.

"We're grateful no one was hurt, that everybody got out okay. That was the main thing," Marilyn said.

The fire was the 18th structure fire the department has responded to this year, which is up slightly from years past.

Fire Leaves Family Homeless