Plumes of black smoke rose from an under-construction apartment building in Aurora the afternoon of Dec. 16, drawing 42 firefighting units from metro Denver fire departments to battle the five-alarm fire.

The fight went on for a week. The blaze caused an estimated $150 million in damage, making it the most expensive in the city’s history.

Two months later, the fire department continues to search for causes, demolition teams continue to work on tearing down the damaged structure and the impact on local roads — or lack thereof — continue to cause traffic in the area.

The fire, starting from the top floor of the five-story Link Apartments Fitz building being constructed by Grubb Properties at the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street, quickly moved downward. 

Auora Fire Rescue fought the fire from Dec. 16 until Dec. 21, finally eliminating all hotspots inside of the construction site after five full days of work.

The fire was the largest in terms of property loss in the history of Aurora, according to officials. 

The previous largest fire was in December 2002 at a warehouse near Interstate 70 and Chambers. That fire led to an estimated $15 million in property value loss, according to Aurora Fire Rescue officials.

“This amount of property damage is truly exceptional,” said Matt Brown, Aurora’s public safety strategic communications program manager. “Any time you have an unforeseen tragedy, whether it be a fire, flood, storm, or some other disaster that is out of anyone’s control, it is always unfortunate given the impact it can have on lives and businesses in our community.”

The department is searching for answers to what led to the blaze.

“As the investigation continues, we are currently collecting and analyzing site information and data,” said Dawn Small, strategic communications manager for Aurora Fire Rescue, adding that the investigation may include reviewing witness statements, investigation photos, cell phone videos and drone and surveillance footage when available.

“We are in the process of developing a hypothesis related to the fire’s origin and cause based on the information collected. For a large-scale fire incident like this, this process could take months,” she said.

Road closures, demolition

While the fire caused a plethora of work for the fire department, the ongoing demolition has caused hassles for local commuters and businesses. 

In January, investigators turned over control of the construction site to the development company. Grubb Properties then began a demolition process, closing all lanes of Peoria in both directions between 14th and 17th avenues and Colfax in both directions between Moline and Peoria streets.

The construction caused a mess for nearby establishments, a local business owner — who asked to remain anonymous — told The Denver Gazette. 

He estimated that he has lost around 25% of business during the two months of demolition and had to close entirely for a week. 

The lanes were opened incrementally. All northbound lanes and one southbound lane on Peoria Street have been reopened, and two westbound lanes on Colfax.

City officials said they can’t say whether the investigation and demolition process has been too long because the city hasn’t seen an incident of the same magnitude and has nothing to compare it to. 

“Due to the enormity of this emergency, the demolition of the property and any subsequent reopening of travel lanes will be determined incrementally by Grubb Properties, while factoring in the safety of the public, workers, neighboring structures and the local environment,” an Aurora official told The Denver Gazette.

“We will work closely with local authorities to expedite a complete reopening of the streets and we appreciate the ongoing support and patience of Aurora residents and businesses as we work toward that goal,” Grubb Properties said in a Jan. 12 statement.

The anonymous business owner raised the concern that the city hadn’t been transparent with the length of road closures and demolition processes, causing businesses to scramble to maintain customers. 

City officials said they issued “timely updates in the form of news releases, media advisories, social media posts, website updates, updates in our e-newsletters and through numerous news stories.”

They said that nearby businesses that need help should reach out to the Aurora-South Metro Small Business Development Center.