Don Sweeney
The News & Observer
PARKER, Colo. — Used fireworks placed in a recycling bin cost two families their homes after a destructive blaze early on the Fourth of July, Colorado firefighters reported.
A fountain-style firework smoldered, then ignited the plastic bin, South Metro Fire Rescue said in a news release.
The flames spread to a wooden fence, then to two neighboring homes in Parker, near Denver, firefighters said.
Firefighters alerted by numerous 911 calls responded to the blaze at 12:13 a.m. Tuesday, July 4, the release said. Seventy firefighters were eventually called to the scene.
The residents, who were mostly asleep at the time, safely evacuated the two homes and Parker police evacuated nearby homes, firefighters said.
Firefighters found one home fully engulfed and the second nearly fully engulfed, officials said. It took them nearly an hour to bring the fires under control, then several more hours to completely extinguish.
One firefighter was taken to a hospital with burns from the heat, but his injuries were not life-threatening, firefighters said. Both homes were destroyed in the blaze.
“In this case, we believe this was a legal firework in Colorado, so this also shows the result, the outcome is still dangerous and bad things can still happen,” Fire Marshall Anthony Valdez told KUSA. He also warned against illegal fireworks.
Parker is a town of 61,000 people about 25 miles southeast of Denver.
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