A massive fire broke out last week inside the Aspen Village condominium complex along Davis Avenue, destroying 12 condos under construction and the Aspen Village Sports Center, the complex's 20-year-old sports and fitness facility.
No one was in the buildings when the fire broke out, and no injuries were reported. The damage was estimated by McCall Fire Protection District Chief Dave Sparks as between $3.5 million and $ 4 million.
The blaze, reported around 4:40 a.m. on Nov. 24, was described this week by Sparks as "the worst (he has) seen" in 15 years with the department.
The fire forced more than 60 people out of neighboring condos. Police officers ran door-to-door in the complex evacuating people because of fears that more buildings would ignite or that two nearby propane tanks would explode.
Condos nearly completed
The fire started inside one condo in a 12-plex currently being built by developer Chad Olsen of Meridian. It then quickly spread into the garages of the 12 condos before spreading to the sports center - commonly known as The Club - that was located just a few feet from the building.
The fire appears to have started because a propane heater inside the condos was placed too close to construction materials, although the cause is still under investigation, Sparks said.
The heater was left on because workers were hanging drywall in the building and needed to keep the temperature high enough for work to dry, Olsen said Tuesday.
The condos were about 90 percent finished and had been sold to individual owners, Olsen said. Owners were expected to begin moving in within a couple of weeks, he said.
A construction worker had stopped by the site around 3 a.m. to check the heaters and drywall to make sure everything was okay, Olsen said.
By 4:40 a.m., however, the fire had been roaring inside the condos for up to an hour before the entire structure burst into flames, Sparks said. The intense heat of the condo fire created so much radiant heat that The Club also ignited. The fire also melted garage doors and rain gutters on condos across the parking lot.
Firefighters got the call that there were "a lot of structures on fire" at 4:41 a.m., and the first engine arrived on scene at 4:53 a.m., Sparks said.
Defensive posture taken
A second fire engine and the department's 100-foot ladder truck arrived at 4:56 a.m., and fire officials were already worried about the fire spreading from the condos to The Club, he said.
"(Assistant Chief Andrew Lemberes) had done a walk-around and could see smoke and gases coming off The Club, and he was starting to see flames on the southwest corner of the building," Sparks said. "Our immediate job was to work defensively to protect the surrounding buildings."
Sparks sent the second engine and ladder truck to try to stop the fire at The Club while one engine stayed near the condos and doused the flames with water. By then, the condos across the parking lot were smoking, and firefighters worried about the blaze growing out of control.
Near The Club, firefighters were also worried about the fire jumping to a nearby condo building and spreading west toward Davis Avenue.
"The heat was absolutely incredible. It was intense," Sparks said. "When the fire was moving through The Club, we had to draw a line in the sand. We dug our heels in and put all the water we could on that building. We looked at each other and said, 'We either stop it here or we're in big trouble.'"
Sparks had two major concerns that caused him to focus most of his efforts on The Club. "If that fire would have jumped into the condos to the east and north, by the time we were able to unhook everything and back the equipment up, we could have lost three or four more buildings," he said. Lemberes assigned three firefighters the sole task of watching the blaze and immediately rolling up hoses and moving fire trucks if need be.
Worries over propane, chlorine
At 5:05 a.m., Sparks called for help from the Donnelly Rural Fire Protection District and the Cascade city fire department. Once those crews arrived, firefighters were attacking the blaze with handheld hoses and five deluge guns - two on the ground, two on trucks and one on top of the ladder.
Firefighters were pumping about 3,800 gallons of water per minute for more than two hours, and ended up pumping nearly 600,000 gallons of water on the fire, Sparks said.
"That's a substantial amount of water," he said. "The guys at (the city of McCall's) Public Works department were giving us everything they had at the water plant."
The fire spread quickly and burned hot because of large amounts of construction material stacked inside the condos, Sparks said. Builders had about 300 kitchen cabinets, tons of cardboard, and wooden pallets inside, he said.
"We call a fire like this a 'surround and drown,'" Sparks said. "All you can do is get as many hoses as you can, get as much water as you can, and douse it for as long as you can."
Fire crews also had to deal with two unusual problems during the battle. Within feet of the condos were two 1,000-gallon propane tanks located at the AmeriGas supply center that were getting hot and venting gas when firefighters arrived.
Fearing an explosion, Sparks assigned a couple of men with handheld hoses to douse the tanks to keep them cool.
"Those things were closer to the fire than The Club, and The Club burned up," Sparks said. "If they had gotten too hot, they could have blown up and killed us all."
Fire crews also knew that The Club had a swimming pool, and that there was probably chlorine stored inside, Lemberes said. Chlorine is corrosive, and when it ignites the gas can harm human lungs.
Before long, firefighters began to see "different colored flames" shooting out of the area around the pool, Lemberes said. At that point, police moved onlookers further back and all firefighters were required to wear breathing masks.
Eventually, the blaze was knocked down and cleanup began.
State Fire Marshal Mark Larson was called to the scene, and fire crews finally cleared the area at 7:30 p.m. Given the size of the fire and the various dangers such as propane tanks, the result was encouraging, Spark said.
"I've never seen anything like this, but everything ran smoothly. Everyone did what they were supposed to do," he said. "It was just on the edge of being far, far worse. If it were July, it would have been a catastrophe."
