Boulder apartment fire displaces families at Magwood Apartments

BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — Two dozen families are without a place to live after a fire at a Boulder apartment complex early Friday morning.

According to police, the fire started just before 5 a.m. at the Magwood Apartments. Initial reports indicate the fire started above the sprinkler system and spread through the building’s attic, police say. 

“It was about 4:30 or 5:00 or so and the cops just started banging on everybody’s door,” Jennifer Hately said. “Not the fire alarms or the smoke, it was the police that woke everybody up.”

She said she and her partner grabbed their cats and ran outside to safety. 

“It’s roaring out the top and you can see all the flames and then it kind of goes back down and then it starts roaring again. It really was alive,” Hately said.

Between the fire, smoke and water damage, 24 units have been deemed uninhabitable. However, Boulder Police believe everyone made it out safely.

“Somebody said there’s about 8 inches of water in there so hopefully stuff above will be OK but stuff below probably not so much,” Hately said.

According to multiple neighbors, every tenant was required to have renter’s insurance. 

“Thank goodness places like this require you to have renter’s insurance so everything will get replaced, but there’s a few things like paperwork that I know is gonna be real hard so I just hope that that’s OK,” Hately said.

Red Cross of Mile High is assisting the affected residents with lodging, care, comfort, health and mental health services.