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DENVER --
Firefighters evacuated workers from a multi-story apartment building near Interstate 25 and Dry Creek Road after it caught fire Sunday evening.
The six-story apartment complex that was under construction caught fire just after 5 p.m.
About two dozen units of all kinds -- ladder trucks, engines, ambulances, chief vehicles -- from several fire districts responded. When firefighters arrived, they immediately went on the defensive, setting up ladders and dumping huge amounts of water on the flames.
Andy Lyon, with South Metro Fire Rescue, said Denver Water had to start an extra pump to get enough pressure.
"When you have a building that's not finished, not enclosed, with exposed wood, it goes up in a hurry. And that's what happened here," he said.
Lyon said the cause of the fire at Ballantyne Apartments was a portable propane heater that was left too close to a wall. The heater was one of four on the third floor of the building and was attached to a 100-pound propane tank.
One construction crew was putting up drywall inside the building and another crew was doing stucco work outside when the fire broke out. The workers managed to escape the fire, which was fueled by propane tanks on the third floor.
"They vented and caused a small inferno," said Lyon.
The fire was first reported by people driving by.
The fire flared up again around 6 a.m. Monday and fire crews were worried about the possibility of a collapse, given the weight of the frozen water on the building.
Investigators were able to get into the building around midday and saw burn patterns on the wall studs that pinpointed the heater as the cause of the fire.
The fire damage was contained to the third floor of Building 6. Two nearby buildings, though threatened, were not damaged.
The damaged apartment building, which has 32 units, was scheduled to open in a couple of months. Firefighters said with more than $1 million dollars in damage, though, the grand opening will be a long way off.
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