Families assess next steps in wake of devastating Castle Rock fire

Residents ran door to door to alert neighbors of fire at The Meadows

Posted 4/18/18

The morning after a Castle Rock blaze destroyed two homes and damaged five more, Sierra-Kay Okimoto, 12, clung to her mother, Lisa Bunch, staring at their home, one of the five damaged in the …

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Families assess next steps in wake of devastating Castle Rock fire

Residents ran door to door to alert neighbors of fire at The Meadows

Posted

The morning after a fire destroyed two homes and damaged five more, Sierra-Kay Okimoto, 12, clung to her mother, Lisa Bunch, staring at their home, one of the five damaged in the incident.

At approximately 10 a.m. April 17, Castle Rock Fire and Rescue responded to a call of a house fire on North Foxtail Drive in The Meadows. With high winds and dry conditions, the fire quickly spread to the house next door.

No injuries were reported in the incident, but two homes were a total loss and five surrounding homes sustained minor to moderate damage, according to a town news release.

Bunch lives next door to one of the destroyed houses. She didn't know the cost of repairs for her home, only that flames shattered their windows, leveled their backyard fence and melted their garage, where the fire also spread before firefighters arrived and prevented it from getting farther.

The family of five with three dogs and two cats felt grateful the damage to their house stopped where it did, Okimoto and Bunch said.

What remained of the two houses next to theirs was a pile of charred rubble. Caved-in roofs, blackened support beams and ashy remnants of the structures that stood but 24 hours earlier. Heaps of burned belongings sat in the yard and in the collapsed rooms of each home.

Bunch and her neighbor three doors down, Sandy Brantley, who lives on the other side of the two destroyed homes, described their next-door neighbors as good people. In one house, a quiet and friendly couple now mourning the loss of their two dogs missing in the fire.

“They're very sweet. She always would shovel up my sidewalk,” Brantley said. “They're very nice and quiet and lovely people.”

Bunch and Brantley wanted to respect their neighbors' privacy but expressed remorse for their loss. Brantley said neighbors would be gathering that evening to plan fundraising and donation efforts for the families affected by the fire.

Residents of the neighborhood described a hectic scene when remembering how the fire unfolded.

Bob Vodicka, who lives directly across the street, said he drove upon the scene and saw homes engulfed in flames as firetrucks sprayed water onto them.

“I was freaking out when I heard,” he said. “Because I heard it was close.”

Kari Feaster lives several houses away but walked by the site April 17.

“I'm just sick for the families,” she said, before commending firefighters for preventing more wreckage from occurring in light of the weather conditions.

Winds that day were estimated to be between 40 and 60 mph, according to various media reports.

“What they were able to contain was amazing,” she said.

Neil Pepi, who lives next door to Bunch, said April 18 he opened his door the morning before to a police officer telling him to get out. Their home was downwind from the growing fire. Pepi packed his cat in a carrier and stood down the street with other evacuated residents as smoke and steam filled the block, he said.

“I just had to think of everything in the house, if there was anything I couldn't replace,” he said.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation, but residents reported seeing the first flames between the two ruined homes, possibly near the garage of one before it spread to the other.

Bunch was doing laundry in her basement when the fire began. She thought she heard a loud noise, she said, and came upstairs to find her house smelled of smoke. Quickly, she gathered the pets she could find — all but one cat — and got out.

With the help of first responders, she moved cars and got her animals to the veterinary clinic where she works part-time, Brooklyn Veterinary Clinic. A firefighter later found her missing cat, which was unharmed.

“We just got really lucky that they showed up here when they did because they started dousing our house first,” Bunch said.

Brantley, who works from home, also said she first noticed the sounds of the fire.

“I heard like a screeching noise, a screeching, hissing noise,” she said. “Then I heard loud pops.”

Neighbors rushed to her home and the two next door, banging on doors and windows to make sure no one was home, she said. Once outside, Brantley sat across the street for most of the day and watched the fire. The worst part, she said, was seeing the two homes burn before firefighters arrived, feeling unable to help.

“Mostly, I felt for my neighbors,” she said.

The only damage to her home she found was a cracked kitchen window, Brantley said. She stayed there that night after being allowed back in around 3 p.m. on April 17, she said.

Bunch's family, however, cannot stay in their home. They stopped by April 18 to grab clothes and food, she said, and reflect on how close they came to a worse situation.

“We're fine,” Bunch said. “We're safe.”

 

Castle Rock fire, Castle Rock Colorado, Jessica Gibbs

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