DENVER — It's been nearly a month since an explosion at a fourplex in Denver's Washington Park West neighborhood left one person injured and eight families displaced. But one of the victims, a man who recently moved to Colorado, said Friday the incident hasn't soured his experience of Colorado.
The explosion happened Aug. 10 in the 400 block of South Lincoln Street, near the intersection with E. Dakota Ave.
Three units were directly impacted — including one that Ted Peck had just moved into four days prior.
"I noticed the gas smell earlier in the day," said Peck. "I didn't think too much of it."
He said that he left to run an errand and 20 minutes later, the smell of gas had intensified. Moments later — Peck said he heard an explosion.
"Basically a loud, deafening 'boom'," he said. "And then I just felt the house shake. Then I saw from my hallway, adjacent to me, a pipe, like fly up from the floorboards, and it was shooting out gas. And that's when I realized what it was."
Peck said he ran to the front of the house.
"I could see that the front stairwell had been collapsed. And basically the other half of the house collapsed on itself," said Peck, adding that he used the balcony to crawl down and was only able to escape with the clothes on his back.
Peck had recently relocated to Denver from New Jersey and was waiting to hear back from a job. He later found out he had been offered it, but since he lost his identification and important documents in the explosion, he hasn't been able to start the new job.
"Very difficult because I came out here, you know, I saved up a bit and I had limited funds and I had everything kind of budgeted out," he said.
Peck said he had renter's insurance and has been temporarily staying in a hotel for the time being while he figures out what to do next.
The Denver Fire Department said Friday the cause of the explosion is still under investigation. However, officials said natural gas is being looked at as a possibility.
Despite all he's had to go through, Peck said he remains in high spirits.
"You know, bad things happen. But this definitely hasn't soured me on Colorado and I still love it here and it's a really nice place to live," Peck said.
Peck has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money during the challenging time. Click here if you'd like to help.
