ARVADA, Colo. --
Arvada Fire Rescue said a train is to blame for a handful of separate grass fires, one of which destroyed a house in west Arvada Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighters said they first heard about the blaze around 3:30 p.m. By 5 p.m. the largest fire appeared to be mostly contained.
Scott Pribble of the Arvada Fire Department said the house that was destroyed was at 80th Avenue and Alkire Street and owned by 92 year-old Marge Kusulas. Pribble said Kusulas' neighbor, Terry Kemp ran to her home to get her and her daughter out when he saw the fire.
Alan Thomas, who lives in that neighborhood said he helped another neighbor use a hose to water the grass around their home to prevent the fire from spreading through the relatively new neighborhood. In some cases, the fire came within a few feet of homes.
Dr. Don Shearer saw the fire and called 911 after his five year-old son alerted him to the blaze.
"I saw the fire come up from the [rail] road bed and it started climbing the hill," he said.
The fire then approached a large house and "it just exploded," Shearer said.
7NEWS photographer James Dougherty said the fire appears to have traveled from train tracks along a field to the house. The house is a complete loss.
Pribble said the fires stretched from 72nd Avenue all the way out to Highway 72. Officials closed 80th Avenue from Alkire Street to Simms Street as a precaution.
"We smelled some leaves burning," said Rod Moser who lives near 72nd and Oak Street, where fire fighters say the first fire started. "We walked around the corner and yikes the whole tracks were on fire and coming across the pasture and getting really close to the house."
Arvada Fire Rescue said sparks from a Union Pacific train ignited the grass fires.
AirTracker 7 found small patches of fire that appeared to follow the railroad tracks.
Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson said low humidity and dry conditions make grass fires more likely. Fortunately, the winds are light today, he said.
Copyright 2009 by TheDenverChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
