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Firefighters save two homes on Highway 172

Historically significant building destroyed

Firefighters from the Durango, Los Pinos and Upper Pine fire protection districts, along with firefighters from the Durango-La Plata County Airport, were able to save two homes from a fire in the 5800 block of Colorado Highway 172 on Thursday evening.

The property, about one mile west of Oxford, almost directly across from Airport Road, belongs to Larry and Linda Walter. Two buildings on the property that the Walters were using for storage were destroyed. One had significant historical significance.

“It’s really sad,” said Fire Marshal Karola Hanks, from the Durango Fire Protection District. “This building was where folks in this area used to gather, and now it’s burned to the ground.”

The Walters live in one home, and the other is currently unoccupied. A propane tank was threatened by the fire, but firefighters used foam to smother the fire around it and protect the tank.

Hanks said the cooperation between the different firefighting agencies was a perfect example of how mutual aid should work. In total, the four companies had 15 volunteer firefighters, 15 professional firefighters and five staff members with seven engines, six tankers and a medic unit on scene.

“The airport’s aircraft rescue and fire fighting truck pumps out a lot of water really fast because it’s designed for plane crashes,” Hanks said. “They got there first, and that was really helpful at the beginning. When we got here, they had to go back to the airport because there were planes coming in, and they’re required to be there.”

The tankers had to refill at the hydrant near BP, where the airport has a water system, and they made a lot of trips back and forth across the highway.

The Walters had left their home at 7 a.m. Thursday to go to the La Plata County Fair, so no one was home when the fire started. A passer-by spotted a tree and shed on fire and called it in at about 7:30 p.m., Hanks said.

She was unsure whether the Walters would sleep in their own bed Thursday night because the wind was blowing the smoke in that direction.

Because no one was home, the cause of the fire is unknown. Hanks will begin her investigation today.

abutler@durangoherald.com



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