COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- An early morning fire has destroyed a Colorado Springs home.
It started just after 3:30 a.m. Monday at a home in the 1500 block of Chesham Circle on the city's west side.
Fire officials said they received multiple 911 calls about the fire.
They said when they arrived at the home, they could see large flames and smoke coming from inside, and added if it was not for the fire alarms that alerted the family, the outcome would have been much worse.
"I just went straight for the door, and I could see the fire on this side of my face," Robyn Bridgeman, who was in the house when the fire started, said.
Bridgeman said what happened next is all a blur.
She said all she can remember is running across the street with her two young children, and then looking frantically for the rest of her siblings, nieces and nephews.
Of the 12 people who were in the home, most were taken to the hospital for some type of treatment, but remarkably, all survived.
"I just wanted to know if everyone was okay, because all of my little babies were down there in that house, and I did not know who was alive and who was not," Micki Valcour said.
Valcour was not in the home, but her three children and seven grandchildren were.
She lives just a few blocks away, and said when she arrived in the neighborhood all she could see was darkness, emergency lights and smoke.
"I went up there, and then I met police," Valcour said. "I could not even get to the house, and then pretty soon I saw everyone just running down the street."
Valcour said three of her family members remain in the hospital, including her 10-year-old grandson Tyler, who was flown to Salt Lake City for treatment for his burns, which she said covered his body from head to toe.
Valcour said Tyler's father risked his own life to save his son.
"Tyler would be dead if Tom did not go and get him, she said. "He would be gone because that house went up quick from what they tell me."
Fire officials said the family's home is a total loss, but for those who survived, they said that is not what is important, and added it is a miracle everyone escaped.
"We have three levels, so 12 people all on different levels of the house," Bridgeman said.
Unfortunately two dogs died in the fire.
As for the cause, fire officials said it most likely started in or near the garage.
The investigation is ongoing, and includes members of The Colorado Springs Police Department's Major Crimes Unit and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation who brought in liquid smelling dogs to aid in the search for a cause.
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Original story:
Several family members were taken to a hospital Monday morning after a fire started in a home in the 1500 block of Chesham Drive on the west side of Colorado Springs.
Three people, two adults and a child, are being treated for burns they suffered during the fire, while others were treated and released.
According to a family member who lives down the street from the victims, 12 people from three families were in the house when it caught fire, and seven of them were children ranging in ages from 11 months to 17 years. A 10-year-old boy, Tyler, and two adults remain in the hospital. Tyler was taken first to Denver, then to Salt Lake City to be treated for his injuries.
Firefighters responded to the fire around 3:40 a.m. and knocked it down, but not before it reportedly spread to the second floor and exterior.
Major Crimes Unit officials are at the scene investigating while firefighters work to make sure no hot spots flare up.
Fire officials said initially a garage and two cars were involved, and the wind-driven fire spread to the second floor and exterior of the home. Firefighters said both cars were on fire when they arrived, and flames were shooting 20 feet into the air.
The CBI assisted in the investigation. Two family dogs died in the fire, and a cat was able to escape.
Officials said the house is a total loss.
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