COLORADO SPRINGS - The January 2007 gag order issued on the Castle West fire has been lifted.
For the first time, firefighters that responded to the deadly blaze talked about their rescue efforts on the seven-alarm fire. The initial fire attack and rescue involved nine fire crews, 124 firefighters and 27 pieces of equipment.
Derrick Johnson is responsible for the Castle West fire that killed two people. Johnson was sentenced Friday to two life sentences, plus more than 70 years in prison.
The fire was described as overwhelming. "When we pulled up there was heavy smoke and fire and to see that much so quickly, unbelievable," said Colorado Springs Firefighter Fred Varnel. Varnel was on one of the first crews to arrive on scene. His crew was able to get inside the north end of the building. "We had to crawl on knees, our knees were burning so we couldn't kneel anymore, we had to duck walk," stated Varnel.
Firefighter Ryan Douglas said his initial thought was there was so much do to and not enough time to get it all done. "Trying to get stuff done and already thinking about the next step you've got to do. We were getting all this chaos, people yelling out of windows, people yelling off balconies," Douglas said.
The firefighters' number one goal was to rescue and save the lives of the people inside.
"All hands rescue, that means all we're going to try and do is get people out of the building as fast as we can," said Battalion Chief Randy Royal.
Nine fire crews, 107 firefighters and 27 trucks battled the Castle West fire. Crews saved 85 people from the apartment on January 16th, 2007.
Four firefighters were awarded the Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Award for their efforts.
Republished with permission from KRDO.com
