3 Homes Burn In Northern Colorado, Fireworks Suspected

FREDERICK, Colo. (CBS4/AP) - Authorities are investigating fires that burned three homes in northern Colorado.

All three fires occurred Monday night. Fireworks are suspected in a fire that destroyed a vacant house in Fort Collins.

Investigators say improper disposal of fireworks in a plastic trash container caused another fire that destroyed one home and heavily damaged another in Frederick. It happened on Wren Court just east of Interstate 25.

"They cleaned up the debris and when they did they disposed of it in a plastic trash can up against a fence," Frederick-Firestone Fire Marshal Dave Puccetti said. "The fireworks in there were not completely extinguished. They caught fire which transferred to the container and then to the fence and then to the one house."

An officer driving home from work spotted the fire just before midnight Monday. He and neighbors helped alert the residents of the two homes.

"I started kicking the door in. I called for medical assistance and fire," Sgt. Neal Lucero with Firestone police said.

"I saw fire coming from the far side of the garage here, and it was from the ground all the way up to the eaves," neighbor Bill Kerwin said. "(I) ran up to the front door, yelled, 'Fire! Fire! Get out!'"

Frederick-Firestone division chief Tim Zimmerman said Tuesday that fireworks should be disposed of in a fireproof container filled with water even if the fireworks have been discharged and cooled.

Puccetti said the fire was an accident and there won't be any charges filed

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