Firefighters battle major blaze at Denver apartment complex under construction

DENVER (AP) — More than 100 firefighters battled a large blaze Friday evening as it tore through a three-story apartment complex under construction in southeast Denver, officials said.

Firefighters were continuing to work to extinguish the blaze more than two hours after it started, said Robert Murphy, division chief of operations for Denver Fire.

“It’s major,” he said. “I can’t tell you the last time in Denver we had a three-alarm fire this big.”

There have been no reports of injuries, according to the fire department.

The building is next to a major thoroughfare that the Denver Police Department said in a post on the social platform X has been temporarily closed in both directions.

Some residents of a nearby apartment building were advised to leave because of the heat radiating off the fire, Murphy said.

The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said in a post on X that the fire has caused “significant power outages.” Officials have opened a temporary overnight shelter at an event center in the nearby city of Glendale.