Electrical Short Blamed For St. Elmo Fire
Blaze Destroys Historic Town Hall, Other Structures
POSTED: 8:03 a.m. MDT April 17, 2002
UPDATED: 12:40 p.m. MDT April 17, 2002
A devastating fire in one of Colorado's premier ghost towns started from an electrical short, investigators in Chaffee County said Wednesday.
Officials were worried earlier that a drug lab was involved in the Monday morning fire and had a number of emergency workers who responded to the blaze checked out in the Leadville, Colo., hospital.
The St. Elmo town hall, a mule barn, an original home and two other buildings were destroyed in the blaze southwest of Buena Vista, Colo.
The buildings were largely gone by the time help was summoned by a satellite phone in the remote mountain community. Full-time residents could do nothing until fire units arrived except shovel snow onto the fire.
Thirty-two firefighters extinguished the fire and kept it from spreading to other structures.
Investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation determined that the fire started in the town hall that was slated for renovation.
St. Elmo's few remaining residents had secured tens of thousands of dollars in
grants for the renovation project, said Melanie Milam-Roth.
Three of the five destroyed buildings were built in the 1880s
and all were at least 50 years old, Milam-Roth said.
About 35 original structures remain in St. Elmo.
Officials were worried earlier that a drug lab was involved in the Monday morning fire and had a number of emergency workers who responded to the blaze checked out in the Leadville, Colo., hospital.
The St. Elmo town hall, a mule barn, an original home and two other buildings were destroyed in the blaze southwest of Buena Vista, Colo.
The buildings were largely gone by the time help was summoned by a satellite phone in the remote mountain community. Full-time residents could do nothing until fire units arrived except shovel snow onto the fire.
Thirty-two firefighters extinguished the fire and kept it from spreading to other structures.
Investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation determined that the fire started in the town hall that was slated for renovation.
St. Elmo's few remaining residents had secured tens of thousands of dollars in
grants for the renovation project, said Melanie Milam-Roth.
Three of the five destroyed buildings were built in the 1880s
and all were at least 50 years old, Milam-Roth said.
About 35 original structures remain in St. Elmo.
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