After initial sweeps firemen went outside. “It doesn’t look suspicious, but the cause remains undetermined at this time,” Vandevoorde said.īalke said fire crews took a defensive approach, in part, because nobody was inside the building. The cause of the fire remains under scrutiny by the department’s arson investigator and Cortez Police Department detectives. “Power was restored before we left the scene,” Vandevoorde said. Power was fully returned by about 12:30 p.m. Officials allowed surrounding business owners in their place of business to remove computers and other pertinent items, Vandevoorde said. While fighting the fire, power was shut off to the entire zero to 100 block of Main Street as a precaution, impacting a half-dozen businesses. “There was some minor smoke damage to adjoining businesses, but they should be back open today.” “We were able to contain the fire to those three businesses,” said Cortez Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde on Monday. No injuries were reported, but Stewart’s Flooring, Cortez Works, and Family Shoes and More were destroyed, said Balke. Some 50 firefighters responded to the scene, including crews from Dolores, Lewis, Mancos and Pleasant View. “Secondary crews came around the back and saw active fire.” “We saw heavy smoke pushing through the roof and through the front of the building,” he explained. Assistant Fire Chief Charles Balke was with one of the first crews to respond. Within four minutes, firefighters were on scene as flames jumped some 20 feet in the air. Jeter and two other members of the fire department are working toward licensing.Īn article will be published online Wednesday.An early morning blaze in downtown Cortez on Sunday gutted three businesses and halted eastbound and westbound traffic on Main Street for hours.Įmergency fire crews were dispatched to Stewart’s Floor Covering at 20 East Main St. Ertel holds a display operator's license. Keenan Ertel, who has run fireworks shows in previous years, is still involved. The city of Cortez partnered with Cortez Fire Protection District and donated $20,000 for the fireworks, Jeter said. This year’s show cost about $30,000 total, including the product and the labor. Three-inch, 4-inch, and 5-inch aerial shells were set off, as well as aerial cakes, which are prepackaged multishot fireworks. They hope to work up to doing shows like these in future years, he said. Each (firework) gets wired up individually to the cue board that goes to this controller that we’re able to wire up to with speaker wire and then run it from a safe distance,” Jeter said.Ī cool feature of this type of controller is the ability to run a scripted show that syncs the fireworks to music. Staton Jeter spoke with The Journal earlier in the week about the fireworks display this year. in Parque de Vida until the fireworks began about 9 p.m.Ĭapt. Flashback then took the stage about 7 p.m. The Four Corners Community Band got things going about 4:30 p.m. Parque de Vida fills with families and friends to watch bands, fireworksĬortez hosted two bands for the Fourth of July Tuesday in Parque de Vida, before the Cortez Fire Protection District capped the celebration with a dazzling display of more than 1,000 rockets that lit the sky and boomed through town
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