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Fire burns Main Street house; two escape

Naomi Havlen
Firefighters work through the snow to make sure a fire is extinguished at 518 W. Main St. on Saturday afternoon. Aspen Times photo/Mark Fox.
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A house on Main Street caught fire on Saturday afternoon while two women were inside; both left the home safely before the fire was extinguished.Smoke enveloped the home at 518 W. Main St., between the Ullr Condominiums and O2 Aspen Yoga Studio, and neighbors crowded the sidewalks in the snow as volunteer firefighters went inside the home to extinguish the blaze.

Westbound traffic was diverted onto Bleeker Street heading out of town as three lanes of Main Street were closed while emergency officials worked.Firefighters used a fan to try to get smoke out the front door of the residence, while smoke continued to curl up from the home’s eaves after the fire had been extinguished.

Aspen Fire Chief Darryl Grob said the elderly owner of the home and her caretaker were in the residence when the fire began. He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, although according to preliminary statements both women gave to fire officials, a candle may have started the internal fire.Grob said he did not know which room of the home was most affected by the fire, but he said there was some damage from flames as well as extensive smoke damage to the home. Firefighters were able to put out the fire 10 minutes after arriving at the scene, he said.



One of the women in the home called 911 to report the fire around 4:30 p.m. Both women quickly evacuated the home as firefighters arrived on the scene.The owner of the house sat in a sheriff’s office patrol vehicle looking shaken while staring in the direction of her house, but she told a neighbor she wasn’t harmed. Grob said the woman was picked up by her son and taken to Aspen Valley Hospital to make sure she didn’t inhale much smoke from the fire.Naomi Havlen’s e-mail address is nhavlen@aspentimes.com