Deputies rescues man in apartment fire

86 residents displaced

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A 93-year-old man was one of two people to go to the hospital with minor injuries caused by a Feb. 1 re at Club Valencia, a condominium building just outside of east Denver. anks to the quick response efforts of an Arapahoe County deputy, the man has his life. e re, which occurred at 5:30 a.m., was caused by an accident dur- ing cooking, South Metro Fire Rescue spokesperson Eric Hurst said. e condominium building sits along Parker Road o Mississippi Avenue, close to Aurora.

“(It was) a very chaotic scene, a lot of smoke and a lot of people who woke up to this re and trying to get themselves and their pets and any kids out,” Hurst said.

The rescue Deputies from the Arapahoe

An accomplished standup comic from Denver, CO, Christie Buchele has made a name for herself by sharing the heart-wrenching and hilariously raw realities of being a woman with a disability and proves time and again you can say almost anything with a smile on your face!

County Sheriff’s Office were the first to arrive on scene, responding to smoke complaints and a call about a person being trapped in smoke. Deputy Armando Gutierrez located the individual upon his arrival, before firefighters arrived.

“The environment, it’s all covered in black smoke, like I can’t see more than a foot in,” he said.

“I start yelling and I don’t get an answer. So I crouch down a little bit, use my flashlight, start making my way into the apartment. At the end of that front hallway of the apartment, I can see a male standing there.”

Bodycam footage of the event shows thick smoke and officers coughing. Gutierrez repeatedly said “Come on” to the man and another voice said, “We’ve got to go, right now.”

Gutierrez said the man was not responding to anything he was saying and seemed to be in shock. Later, Gutierrez learned that the man only spoke Russian.

“I asked him to come with me a few more times and he couldn’t,” Gutierrez said. “At that point, the smoke was really bad and I started coughing. So I figured if it’s bad for me, it has to be bad for him, so then I just grabbed him, picked him up and I took him out.”

Hurst said emergency response individuals made several other rescues once the firefighters arrived.

“It feels good, being able to help somebody out,” Gutierrez said. “I think anybody in my position would have done the same thing.”

Fire code and asbestos

This fire event marks the calendar with the first fire at Club Valencia this year, after five fires occurred there in 2022. Most notably, a major fire in November displaced people from approximately 85 units.

Hurst said the building, which was built in the 1960s, is not up to date with modern fire code standards as it is lacking a full-building alarm system and sprinkler system.

“So when this fire occurred, it was the people who witnessed the fire start (that were) knocking on doors and yelling at their neighbors to get out of the building,” he said.

The residents of 86 condo units are now displaced as a result of the fire, Hurst said. The American Red Cross and the Arapahoe County Office of Emergency Management are helping these victims as they cope with the tragedy.

Hurst said that a large part of the reason residents are displaced from their homes is because there is asbestos in the building, which was made more dangerous by the fire.

“Even though the fire was relatively small, the smoke extension and the ability for the asbestos to be aerosolized and traveling through the air makes it unsafe for the building occupants,” he said. “A big reason why all of them are displaced is because it will require asbestos abatement.”

Hurst said he does not know how long asbestos abatement generally takes, but the victims of the November fire are still waiting to move back into their homes for the same reason.

Thu 2/16

ARTS: Mini Picasso @ Harvard Gulch

@ 5pm Feb 16th - Mar 16th

Harvard Gulch Recreation Center, 550 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. 720-913-0654

ARTS: Preschool Pottery @ Harvard Gulch @ 6:15pm Feb 16th - Mar 16th

Harvard Gulch Recreation Center, 550 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. 720-913-0654

Fri 2/17

School Break Camp - 2/17 @ 7:30am / $45 Parker Fieldhouse, 18700 E Plaza Dr., Parker. 303-805-6315

Sat 2/18

Dave Mensch - Tailgate Tavern - Parker, CO @ 4pm

Tailgate Tavern & Grill, 19552 Mainstreet, Parker Teague Starbuck @ 5pm Sunroom Brewing, 3242 S Acoma St, En‐glewood

Journey Girls Live at Herman's Hideaway @ 7pm Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver

Vamonos Pest/Mobro: Mobro at Brewability Lab @ 6pm Brewability Lab, 3445 S Broadway, Englewood

Denver: Amit Tandon Stand-Up Comedy Live 2023 @ 7pm

Rock Canyon High School, 5810 McArthur Ranch Rd, Littleton

Lusid: Flight of the Dojo w/ Dillard @ 9pm the dojo denver, 665 Depew St, Lakewood

Sun 2/19

Tianna Esperanza @ 7pm Swallow Hill, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Mick Flannery @ 7pm Swallow Hill, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Mon 2/20

Last Call Romance: Hearts & Hops Sock Hop @ 6:30pm Lone Tree Brewing Company, 8200 Park Meadows Dr #8222, Lone Tree

Adam Ezra Group: A Solo Acoustic Evening with Adam Ezra at The Schoolhouse **POSTPONED** @ 7:30pm

The Schoolhouse at Mainstreet, 19650 Mainstreet, Parker

BAILE DEL DIA DEL AMOR Y LA

AMISTAD @ 8:30pm / $50-$60 Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Samia w/ Tommy Lefroy @ 8pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 South Broadway, Englewood

Tommy Lefroy @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Tue 2/21

Handwriting: Pre-Writing (3 to 5 yrs) W/S23 @ 11:30pm

Feb 21st - Mar 28th

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Wed 2/22

Loktavious @ 7pm

Herman's Hideaway, 1578 S Broadway, Denver

Eric Golden @ 8pm

Sheabeens Irish Pub, 2300 S Chambers Rd #A, Aurora

The Doo Wop Project @ 8pm Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St, Lone Tree

Dear Marsha,: Chicks with Picks! DM ALBUM RELEASE with No Small Children, Melissa Crispo, Bug Frances @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

LATRICE ROYALE @ 8pm Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Pretend Friend @ 9pm

The Englewood Tavern, 4386 S Broadway, Englewood

Thu 2/23

Art: Hands-On Introduction to DSLR Photography (16+yrs) @ 2am Feb 23rd - Mar 22nd PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker

Stephen Pearcy @ 8pm

Wild Goose Saloon, 11160 S Pikes Peak Dr, Parker

Heart of the matter

W

EDITOR’S COLUMN e are fully emerged into February, the month each year when medical professionals and healthcare organizations try to bring more awareness to heart health. While it should be a year-round priority for everyone, February is speci cally aimed at putting a focus on cardiovascular health.

I am extremely proud of my name. To be called “ elma” comes with some pride every time I hear it. You see, I was named after my grandmother who died months before I was born. As I am often told, my grandmother wanted a granddaughter so badly.

Thelma Grimes ere really wasn’t a month aimed speci cally at raising hearth health awareness. elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.

My grandmother was 50 years old when she died of a heart attack. My mom’s side of the family is a mess when it comes to genetic health, but the heart is the biggest concern.

My mom was afraid to turn 50 because of heart issues that owed through her family. When 50 came and went — she was relieved, but she de nitely keeps up with heart testing and taking preventative measures.

For me, now in my 40s, I tend to ask my doctor a lot of questions about my heart. I share a name with a woman I never met because in the 1970s there was a lot less information available to people about heart health.

A heart problem can be sneaky, since symptoms can present di erently in every individual. Someone with heart disease or heart failure may not experience the same symptoms as another person with the same condition.

While breast cancer tends to get a lot of attention in terms of women’s health and preventative measures — heart disease is actually a bigger culprit each year.

According to the CDC, despite e orts to increase awareness, only 56% of women recognized heart disease as the top killer. As the leading cause of death for women in the U.S., heart disease was responsible for 314,186 women dying in 2020. at equates to 1 in every 5 female deaths.

For personal reasons I write about women, but in reality, heart disease has a huge e ect on the entire U.S. population.

According to the CDC, one person dies every 34 seconds in the U.S. of cardiovascular disease. In total, 697,000 Americans died in 2020 of heart disease. at equates to 1 in every 5 deaths.

According to the CDC, the term heart disease refers to several types of heart conditions because it all goes toward issues a ecting the blood ow around the heart. Decreased blood ow, for instance, can cause a heart attack.

Sometimes heart disease can go completely unnoticed and undiagnosed until a person su ers from a heart attack, heart failure or arrythmia.

Instead of waiting for something major to happen, health o cials continue to stress the need to be proactive in healthcare, meaning taking preventative measures and tests as directed each year.

For more information on issues of the heart, visit the American Heart Association website at heart.org.

WINNING

I never go to meet her. So, I got the next best thing — her name.Rising above the noise