Colorado Springs apartment fire that displaced over 60 people caused by lightning storm
A Colorado Springs apartment fire displaced 64 people from 34 apartment units late Friday night.
The fire was reported around midnight at 6480 Olympic Park Point. Fire investigators said on Saturday afternoon that the fire was caused by Friday's lightning storm.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department shared photos and videos of the blaze overnight and said it took 50 firefighters about an hour and a half to put out the fire.
Thankfully, there are no reports of injuries as of Saturday morning. The American Red Cross will work to help those who were displaced from their homes.
"The Red Cross quickly opened an emergency evacuation shelter providing comfort and care to approximately 64 people who were displaced and forced to evacuate due to the fire," Southeastern Colorado chapter of the Red Cross said in a statement.
"The evacuation shelter has closed, and Red Cross volunteer caseworkers are now hard at work connecting those impacted to temporary housing, assisting with accessing insurance benefits and assessing the need to issue Red Cross individual disaster assistance grants," the statement continued. "The Red Cross has activated its disaster assistance team and additional services including mental and medical health services as well as spiritual care and disability integration have also been assigned to the incident and are providing support to those impacted."
Fire officials also said that a dog was rescued from one unit Saturday morning -- eight hours after the fire started.
Investigators don't know what caused the fire. That will remain under investigation for some time.
