Denver firefighters battle 5-alarm fire at apartment complex

Metro Denver firefighters were battling a massive five-alarm fire that tore through an apartment complex under construction at Leetsdale Drive and South Forest Street on Friday night, forcing the evacuation of nearby residents and causing power outages.

One firefighter suffered unspecified injuries and was transported to Denver Health for treatment, the Denver Fire Department reported just before 10 p.m.

The fire was initially reported around 7 p.m., officials said, and involved a three-story apartment building under construction. By 9:45 p.m., Denver fire officials had upgraded their response to a five-alarm fire.

More than 100 firefighters from a number of metro Denver agencies responded to fight the giant blaze, said Robert Murphy, operations division chief for Denver Fire Department.

“This fire ran freely from one end of this building to the (other),” Murphy told Denver7. “It’s a complete city block and it is on fire.”

Murphy told the news station that firefighters arrived at the scene to find the west end of the complex fully engulfed in flames. The fire continued to push its way east through the building as firefighters set up to control it.

“There was a little bit of wind when this fire first came in,” Murphy said. “A fire of this size actually generates kind of its own mini wind and starts pushing those embers out. When I arrived, those embers completely covered my car. That has since died down. That was when the fire was at its peak.”

The cause of the fire was unknown and remains under investigation.

Videos on social media depicted large flames and a smoke plume visible from nearby Glendale.