{"id":91065,"date":"2019-12-23T18:01:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T18:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-fire-takes-out-historic-building-power-internet-and-cell-service\/"},"modified":"2019-12-23T18:01:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T18:01:01","slug":"silverton-fire-takes-out-historic-building-power-internet-and-cell-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-fire-takes-out-historic-building-power-internet-and-cell-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverton fire takes out historic building, power, internet and cell service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=641ea6ce-0e81-4489-bcc7-222940af284f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" alt=\"A fire Saturday destroyed a historic building in Silverton, and also knocked out power, cellphone service and internet for hours.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A fire Saturday destroyed a historic building in Silverton, and also knocked out power, cellphone service and internet for hours.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of DeAnne Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>It was a rough weekend for Silverton.<\/p>\n<p>A fire Saturday night that destroyed a historic building on Greene Street took firefighters nearly 17 hours to douse it and prevent it from spreading to other buildings.<\/p>\n<p>But that was only the beginning of the small mountain town\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mTgCuAcbljA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The fire also sparked a power outage across the entire town until Sunday morning and knocked out cellphone service and internet until it was restored Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>And the fire required so much water to fight, Silverton residents are now being asked to conserve water until storage tanks can refill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a big deal,\u201d said DeAnne Gallegos, spokeswoman for San Juan County.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=95caa4aa-e29d-4d66-bc66-c0118851aa00&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Around 10 p.m. Saturday, patrons of the Golden Block Brewery noticed a fire across the street at the Great Divide Co. and called 911.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Around 10 p.m. Saturday, patrons of the Golden Block Brewery noticed a fire across the street at the Great Divide Co. and called 911.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of David Breed<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Around 10 p.m. Saturday, patrons at the Golden Block Brewery spotted the fire across the street at the Great Divide Co., a gift and souvenir store at 1248 Greene St. But as the late-night revelers went to call 911 on their cellphones, they couldn\u2019t \u2013 there was no service.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the Golden Block Brewery had a landline, Gallegos said, and 911 was called.<\/p>\n<p>Gilbert Archuleta, chief of Silverton-San Juan County Fire and Rescue Authority, said a crew of about 16 firefighters and two trucks arrived on scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought we had it under control,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then it jumped up into the ceilings and burned through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Durango Fire Protection District was called for backup. Archuleta said crews fought the fire through the night, with temperatures dipping to minus 10 degrees. About 6 a.m. Sunday, the fire was under control and no longer posed a threat of spreading.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=0267d179-3e0d-42c5-ba5e-e7e9b06f600f&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"A fire Saturday knocked out cellphone service for the entire town of Silverton until Monday morning, prompting town officials to address the community\u2019s vulnerability to outages.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A fire Saturday knocked out cellphone service for the entire town of Silverton until Monday morning, prompting town officials to address the community\u2019s vulnerability to outages.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of DeAnne Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Silverton\u2019s fire crews continued to put out hot spots until about 4 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The Great Divide Co. is likely a complete loss, Archuleta said. The adjacent buildings \u2013 the Teller House Hotel and Outdoor World Sporting Goods \u2013 sustained smoke damage.<\/p>\n<p>No one was injured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith everyone pitching in, we were able to contain it to one building on Greene Street,\u201d Archuleta said. \u201cIt was a big deal that it didn\u2019t spread.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fire, though, was only starting to wreak havoc on the town of about 400 winter residents, who live in relative isolation about 50 miles north of Durango.<\/p>\n<p>The blaze damaged a power line that runs along the alley behind the Great Divide Co., knocking out power for the entire town from Saturday night until 4 a.m. Sunday, as temperatures fell below zero.<\/p>\n<p>The flames wrecked CenturyLink\u2019s line that also runs along the alley. And because all other providers, like Verizon and Forethought, rely on and use CenturyLink\u2019s infrastructure, the entire town\u2019s internet and cellphone service was knocked out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe only had landlines,\u201d Gallegos said.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=bd210533-169b-409f-9ee5-22a758f9704b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"The historic building that housed the Great Divide Co., a gift store, was a complete loss. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and limit damage to adjacent buildings.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The historic building that housed the Great Divide Co., a gift store, was a complete loss. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and limit damage to adjacent buildings.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of DeAnne Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Town officials set up an emergency staging area at the Visitor Center, where a landline phone and modem internet system could be used to communicate to residents and  the outside world. Gallegos said she wrote notices to keep residents updated and delivered them door to door.<\/p>\n<p>All the while, town officials had no idea when CenturyLink representatives would show up to fix the line. Gallegos said the entire incident exposed how vulnerable the town is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s critical for our way of life \u2013 it eliminates 911 and can knock out life-alert systems people are on,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is definitely a conversation we have to have with people with more authority (at CenturyLink). These small rural communities are susceptible and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A CenturyLink spokesman said Monday the company plans to meet with town officials in early 2020 to talk about issues with infrastructure when failures occur.<\/p>\n<p>Gallegos said a CenturyLink staff member showed up early Monday from Denver, and internet and cellphone service was restored about 4:45 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, we had landlines, and thankfully, we knew who had them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what keeps rising to the top is our relationship with CenturyLink and understanding how reliable we are on that one service provider. That\u2019s something that really needs to be discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>John Sites, Silverton\u2019s director of Public Works, said it took an estimated 500,000 gallons of water to fight the fire. And because the town\u2019s entire storage capacity for water is 800,000 gallons, he said he would have enacted mandatory restrictions Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there was no way to get the word out,\u201d Sites said.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, town officials waited it out, and the storage tanks started to fill back up. The town asked residents to voluntarily conserve water until the tanks were full, which should be in about two days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s also important to say over the holidays we\u2019re busier with more people using water in town, about one-third as much as we usually use,\u201d Sites said.<\/p>\n<p>The cause of the fire is unknown. Archuleta said foul play was not suspected, and fire crews will continue to search the scene for clues. But the burden for a true investigation, he said, is up to the Great Divide Co.\u2019s insurer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really depends on how insurance wants to handle it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts to reach the owners of the Great Divide Co. were unsuccessful Monday morning. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pg\/Great-Divide-Company-of-Silverton-412217392294791\/posts\/?ref=page_internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The store\u2019s Facebook page says<\/a> it has been family-owned and operated for 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you all so much for the support of The Great Divide,\u201d the store posted Sunday. \u201cWe are all hanging in and doing the best we can. We are thankful for this wonderful community and so thankful for the skilled firefighters who worked through the freezing night to fight this fire. We are overwhelmed by the love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:jromeo@durangoherald.com\">jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>officials say blaze exposes vulnerability of mountain hamlet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[350,13,28,29,1562,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fire","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-county-colorado","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91065"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}