Firefighters injured in Durango blaze, explosion

By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Hank Schultz, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 22, 2008 at 5:05 p.m.
Updated February 22, 2008 at 7:50 p.m.

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Photo by Associated Press ©

A fire that started in a grease hood that led to an explosion in the downtown tourist district of Durango this afternoon injured as many as seven firefighters and gutted three buildings.

Photo by AP ©

A firefighter is helped by colleagues Friday during a blaze in downtown Durango that engulfed Season's Restaurant, a t-shirt shop and Le Rendezvous Swiss Bakery. Seven firefighters were injured, none seriously.

A fire that started in a grease hood led to a powerful explosion in the downtown tourist district of Durango this afternoon injuring seven firefighters and gutting three buildings.

About 1:40 p.m. smoke and flames were reported visible on the roof of the Seasons restaurant, in the 700 block of Main Avenue, according to the Associated Press. The fire quickly spread to an adjoining t-shirt shop and another restaurant said Dave Abercrombie, public information officer for the Durango Fire and Rescue Authority.

About 2:30 p.m. an explosion blew out the fronts of Seasons, Le Rendevouz and Half-Price Tees, according to witnesses, showering the street with debris. One firefighter who was on the roof was blown upward and almost fell off, according to the Durango Herald newspaper.

Seven firefighters were treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, said hospital spokesman David Bruzzese. As of four of them were treated and released, he said. Three firefighters were admitted for further treatment, two of whom were listed in good condition and one in fair condition, he said.

The fire apparently started in the kitchen of Seasons. Patrons who were eating in the restaurant said the staff told them to leave the building, saying the grease hoods had caught on fire.

Theodore Garcia, owner of Francisco's Restaurant y Cantina, which sits south of where the explosion occurred, said he and other employees raced down the street to lend a hand after one of his workers who was walking to the restaurant passed by the Seasons restaurant which was on fire. When Garcia and other reached the blaze firefighters and other emergency crews had arrived.

"There was just flames and smoke bouncing from one building to another," Garcia said.

As firefighters moved in to attack the blaze Garcia and other onlookers started backing away from the fire and across the street. A short time later he and other onlookers watched the Rendezvous restaurant explode hurling shards of glass, pieces of brick and wood projectiles around the block.

At the time of the explosion Durango firefighters and police had not cordoned off the block to passersby.

"We were in the process of extending the perimeter when the explosion occurred," said Durango police department spokeswoman Capt. Micki Browning.

"All around was flying glass and debris," Garcia said. "I did my best to get some of my guys moving. I was saying, 'Let's move down, let's move down!' People all around were getting hit with glass."

Garcia said he didn't believe anybody was injured by the flying debris because they hunkered down for cover as projectiles glanced off them.

Soon after the explosion police and firefighters moved in to clear people from the block.

"On a scale of one to 10 the explosion was a seven," Garcia said. "It was very loud. My father lives two miles west of town and he heard the explosion."

Michelle Kelly, manager of Ken and Sue's restaurant, which sits north of the 700 block where the fire and explosion took place, said her business received customers who were at Seasons restaurant and told her that the fire broke out in the exhaust hoods of the kitchen. The devices are used to suck up the smoke and grease from the stove, and they require frequent cleaning because if they clog they can catch fire.

"They told us they were asked to leave because their hoods were on fire," Kelly said of the customers who were dining at Seasons.

Garcia said that other witnesses also had told him that the hoods caught on fire.

His restaurant spent most of the afternoon providing food and beverages to firefighters and other rescue personnel.

Three other fire departments joined in the battle, said fire department spokesman Abercrombie.

By early evening the fire had been contained, according to Capt. Browning. She said firefighters were remaining on the scene to watch for flareups. Other than the seven firefighters, she said she had no reports of other injuries.

The three buildings involved were "gutted," Abercrombie said, but firefighters had stopped the blaze from spreading further. He said it would take some time before investigators could determine what caused the explosion.

It was the second significant fire in downtown Durango in as many years. On July 29, 2006 a fire started by an arsonist burned the the Central Hotel at 975 Main Avenue. Twenty-three tenants lost their homes, although no one was seriously hurt.

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