Artist Forced Out Of Home In Fire Code Sweep Feels He Was Targeted
DENVER (CBS4) - In the midst of making plans for a fundraiser to benefit the victims of Oakland's deadly warehouse fire, Luke Thinnes suddenly found himself needing help. He had just lost a friend in the fire and says he was not expecting his own home would become the subject of scrutiny in the wake of the tragedy.
Last Thursday night, fire inspectors arrived at his building, Glob, adjacent to Rhinoceropolis, at 35th and Brighton Boulevard, shaking structures to test their stability, instructing his roommate to take down a parachute he'd hung from the ceiling, saying it was a fire hazard, Thinnes says.
Inspectors told him electrical outlets that were missing plate covers were also hazardous.
"It was shocking, I've never had anything like that happen to me," Thinnes said. "We were forced to evacuate in four hours and it was probably the most traumatizing experience of my entire life."
Thinnes and as many as 10 other people were forced out of their homes that night, for what Denver fire officials have called immediate safety concerns caused by a lack of working smoke detectors and sprinklers.
Other fire code violations, according to Denver fire spokeswoman Melissa Taylor, included extension cords being used as permanent wiring and having paper and plastic on the ceiling.
"We all have friends and family. None of us wants to put anybody in bad situation. We get the consequences of what happened last night, but more significant would have been what happens in the event of an emergency," Taylor said on Friday.
But to Thinnes, the lack of working smoke detectors never bothered him. He says that's because the DIY arts space he lived in was home to a close-knit, "insular and self-contained" community, one in which he entrusted his life.
"It's the kind of situation where there's always people around," Thinnes said, "we always look out for each other and we don't let people who are not willing to abide by that general code to live with us."
For the last three years, Thinnes has lived with three other people inside Glob. He says as many as seven people were living inside Rhinoceropolis when it was shut down.
Inside the mostly concrete structure, Thinnes says he never feared the possibility of a catastrophe such as occurred in Oakland's Ghost Ship, the subject of safety complaints, prior to the fatal fire that consumed the building.
He says Glob was laid out in a way that made sense for apartment living, even if it lacked the proper residential permitting.
"It's one of the safest spaces I've ever lived in," Thinnes said.
The fire department has said it acted at the request of Denver police, responding to a tip, when it inspected and evacuated Glob and Rhinoceropolis.
Thinnes says the officials are being used as a tool to shut down the non-traditional creative spaces artists love and rely on, and capitalizing on tragedy to do so. The manager of another RiNo DIY art space told CBS4's Rick Sallinger closures are intimidating artists and musicians. Others see the move as a "knee-jerk" reaction.
"I think whoever's targeting artists isn't the fire department, but they've found a way to go through them in order to get these spaces shut down, because it's happening nationwide," Thinnes said. "Whoever tipped off the police didn't want us there, so they were definitely targeting the artists."
Over the years, Rhinoceropolis has gained a reputation for fostering and growing musical talent outside the confines (and cost) of hiring publicists and managers and playing by the rules of commercialized music venues.
It has been described as the home of Denver's underground music scene; to Thinnes, it was an "oasis" that offered freedom of expression "in ways that aren't really permitted in traditional venues."
He calls his three years spent living at Glob the best experience in his life thus far. He hopes to be able to return home, but thinks that is unlikely, with the building already sold and slated for redevelopment starting as soon as 2018. In order for Thinnes and others living there to return, the building's owner would have to apply for new permitting. He told CBS he did not want to comment for this story.
"This is a really tightly knit community, and if it's being used as a springboard to shut down venues then I think that's a really grave mistake," Thinnes said.
Lauren DiSpirito reports for CBS4 News at 10 p.m. She covers breaking news and feature stories along Colorado's Front Range. Follow her on Twitter @CBS4Lauren. Share your story ideas with her here.
