Aurora fire crews on Monday continued to battle the five-alarm construction fire that has shut down Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street for more than two days.
As of 11:30 a.m. Monday, firefighters from six different agencies were working to douse the remaining hot spots, officials said, though physical flames were no longer visible outside the structure.
The multi-agency operation includes crews from the Denver Fire Department, South Adams Fire, South Metro Fire Rescue, Sable Altura Fire and the Rattlesnake Fire Protection District, Aurora Fire Rescue spokesperson Dawn Small said.
But the fire crews remain unable to enter the site, said Lt. Carlos Oropeza during a news conference Monday afternoon, due to the hot spots as well as the instability of the building. Instead, Oropeza said, the crews have been using drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras to identify hot spots.
Around 11 a.m. Monday, the northwest corner of the building — the part that sits directly at the Colfax-Peoria intersection — partially collapsed.
“We’re not getting anybody in there until we can safely access the building,” Oropeza said.
Oropeza confirmed there is a danger the hot spots could reignite parts of the structure, but that would likely occur underneath the collapsed material and most of the building is self-contained. The lieutenant also noted that it will take at least another day to chase down and extinguish the hot spots.
The intersection will remain closed as long as the investigation is in progress, according to Matthew Longshore, spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department.
The power, utilities and gas to the block have been shut off while firefighting operations continue, Oropeza said. The lieutenant said all utilities were being fed into the building at the time the fire began.
Longshore said the investigation could take days, but no estimate for the intersection’s reopening has been released yet.
Oropeza noted that, as of now, the department cannot confirm if the fire was linked to another fire at a different Aurora apartment construction site earlier the same week.
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