DENVER — South Metro Fire Rescue crews rescued at least one person from a condo fire that displaced residents from 86 units in Arapahoe County Wednesday morning.
The fire was reported at the Club Valencia condominium building in the 1300 block of South Parker road. At least 10 people were checked at the scene by medics, with two people taken to a hospital for minor injuries, according to SMFR.
The fire has been contained as of 7 a.m. The cause of the fire will be investigated by South Metro Fire Marshal's Office.
South Metro Fire crews continued to search through the four-story complex for more people all morning, with the Aurora Fire Department and Denver Fire are also responding, according to a tweet.
Body camera video shows Arapahoe County Sheriff's Deputy Armando Gutierrez rescue a 93-year-old man from the fire.
The heavy fire and ambulance presence between E. Florida and E. Mississippi Avenue forced the closure of South Parker Avenue but has since reopened, according to Denver7's Jayson Luber.
The Red Cross and Arapahoe County Office of Emergency Management responded to the scene to support displaced residents of the 86 impacted units. Red Cross said on Thursday caseworkers opened 14 cases and helped 25 residents with recovery support.
This isn't Club Valencia's first fire. Back in November 2022, three people were hospitalizedand more than 80 units were displaced when a fire broke out at the condominium complex.
In 2017, a mother and her two small children were also injured in a fire at the complex that also injured two sheriff's deputies, Denver7 reported. It was during this incident that Denver7 learned the complex does not have fire sprinklers because the building only needs to abide by the fire codes that were in place when it was constructed decades ago.
"Fire sprinklers do provide people additional time to keep the fire small and evacuate the buildings. But that, again, was not required at the time," South Metro Fire Rescue spokesperson Lauren Ono told Denver7 Wednesday. "When buildings are built, they get to follow that code of the current time. So again, when the building was built, sprinklers were not required... they're not required to come and install them now that they are required."
With more than 160 units displaced because of two fires in the last 3 months, residents tell Denver7 they do not feel safe and are frustrated with the property managers, LCM Property Management, Inc.
Denver7 offered a management staff member an opportunity to address residents' concerns Wednesday. The staff member grabbed reporter Bayan Wang's microphone and said in part, "So right now, the news teams are here. We've been trying to coordinate with everyone. They're interfering."
Denver7 then called an executive member of LCM Property Management for comment. They hung up after Wang introduced himself.
