COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A massive two-alarm structure fire erupted in the pre-dawn hours Thursday morning, destroying a historic red-brick former warehouse on the southwest side of downtown Colorado Springs, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette. Firefighters responded to the scene along Sahwatch Street just south of Colorado Avenue, near the Pikes Peak Center for Performing Arts, around 3:00 a.m. after receiving reports of a fully involved commercial building blaze.

Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesperson Ashley Franco confirmed that while crews brought the flames under control by late Thursday morning, the vacant commercial structure is a total loss. Because intense heat severely compromised the building’s structural integrity and created an immediate danger of collapsing brickwork, a Colorado Springs Utilities excavator was deployed to systematically tear down the unstable masonry walls so crews could safely reach remaining hotspots inside the rubble.

Emergency responders closed all lanes of Sahwatch Street between Colorado Avenue and Vermijo Avenue throughout Thursday afternoon to accommodate firefighting apparatus and heavy demolition equipment. Franco noted in The Colorado Springs Gazette that teardown crews worked deliberately to avoid rushing the demolition while active fire pockets persisted within the debris footprint.

While fire investigators have not yet determined the official cause of Thursday’s two-alarm blaze, the property has been a recurring safety concern for municipal authorities. Franco stated that the Colorado Springs Fire Department has responded to several smaller fires at the same vacant warehouse over the past several years, all of which were previously determined to be human-caused incidents sparked by trespassers inside the structure.

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