Read more: Local, Community, Environment, Three Alarm Fire, Timbers Apartment, Circle and Airport, Lee Vangundy, Shawn Saunders, Csfd, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs Fire Department, Residents Displaced, Red Cross
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Thirty residents have been displaced after a three alarm fire destroyed 14 apartments Saturday night.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. --
"It's a shock and then you feel like, 'ugh! I could have done this; I could have done that' and really there's nothing that can actually do," Timbers Apartments resident Shawn Saunders said.
The fire started at South Circle Drive and Airport Road.
Saunders said the fire leaked from his neighbors kitchen, into his own, before traveling throughout his apartment.
"When I arrived, [a fire truck] was blocking me. I can't park. I can't do anything and they informed me of what happened and I couldn't believe it," Saunders recalled. "Everything pretty much on the bottom was destroyed as well as up top, so it was a shock."
Fire officials said the fire started after a resident left food cooking on the stove before going grocery shopping.
Lee Vangundy is another resident at the Timbers Apartments. He said his stepdaughter saw the flames from a different building and tried to call 911.
"When she first called, it was like the system was down or not responding or something so they actually called the number of the fire house," Vangundy said.
Vangundy said small fires aren't uncommon at the apartment complex, but something this large is unusual.
"We've had a lot of blown up fire grills, so I thought maybe somebody had an accident," Vangundy said. "Come out, looked. First thing I saw were flames coming out, going over the deck and then it wasn't about 10 minutes and that whole section was up. Fire actually jumped to the tree and burned the bush and caught [another] building on fire."
No injuries were reported. Saunders said, while most of his material possessions are destroyed, it's more important that no one was hurt.
"You can't replace a life, but material things? They come and go, so that's the number one thing you have to keep track of. You have to pick up the pieces and go."
Fire officials say all 14 apartments are considered a total loss. One was completely gutted; the others were destroyed by water, flames and smoke.
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