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Centennial condominium fire causes roof collapse, no injuries

South Metro Fire Rescue said the fire may have started burning in the attic long before anyone noticed and called 911.

CENTENNIAL, Colo — Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire that caused part of the roof to collapse at a condominium building in Centennial on Friday. 

South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR) tweeted around 3:45 p.m. that they were on the scene of a fire at the Glenn Oaks Condos on East Fremont Avenue, near South University Boulevard and East Arapahoe Road. They said it was burning in the attic and called in a second alarm to help with the firefighting effort -- which doubled the number of first responders on scene to roughly 75. 

"The amount of 911 callers that called us and the volume of smoke that our firefighters observed from a couple of miles away leads us to believe that maybe this fire had been burning undetected for a while in the attic space," said South Metro Fire spokesperson Eric Hurst. 

South Metro Fire said after a partial roof collapse, firefighters took a defensive approach from the outside of the middle units and an offensive approach from the inside of the end units to control the fire.

Credit: KUSA
An apartment building caught fire at 2301 E. Fremont Ave. in Centennial on Friday, June 2, 2023.

"I was going from door to door pounding on doors downstairs telling people to get out — there’s a fire," said Betsy Latham, who lives next door. "It was like a little flame and all of a sudden the whole thing was on fire."

Other neighbors report seeing sheriff's deputies and firefighters run into the burning building upon arrival to make sure everyone was okay. "We risk a lot to save a lot," said Hurst. 

The fire department said everyone living in the building was safely evacuated. There were no reports of injuries.

At around 7:15 p.m., South Metro said the fire was under control. 

The cause is under investigation.

>BELOW: Raw Sky9 video of the Centennial condo fire.

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