AURORA | The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has identified the person killed following a gas explosion at the Heather Gardens senior living community Friday night as 82-year-old Carol Ross.
Ross’ body was recovered from one of the patio home units in the Heather Gardens complex early Saturday morning with the help of a canine unit from Colorado Task Force One, according to Sherri-Jo Stowell, a spokeswoman for Aurora Fire Rescue.
The local task force is an urban search and rescue crew that is deployed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Stowell said.
Ross died less than a week after her 82nd birthday, according to information provided by a spokesperson for the local coroner’s office.
A possible cause and manner of death have not yet been released.
An Aurora firefighter and a civilian were also hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries after the fire, according to Stowell. The firefighter has been released, according to a press release issued by Aurora Fire Rescue.
Stowell said Aurora Fire Rescue has not received any updates regarding the status of the hospitalized civilian.
The fire began shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 when an explosion took place on East Linvale Place in Heather Gardens, which houses some 4,500 residents over the age of 55.
Aurora firefighters were on-scene at the time of the initial explosion after responding to earlier reports of a gas leak at Heather Gardens. More than 50 firefighters responded to combat the blaze, which was contained by about 9:30 p.m. Friday night, according to tweets from Aurora Fire Rescue.
Heather Gardens residents had been advised of a gas leak in the complex earlier in the week, according to several local media reports.
Residents of other complexes along East Yale Avenue also received notifications about a gas leak on Friday.
Scorched remnants of timber, insulation and furniture littered the property inside the quasi-cul-de-sac of East Linvale Place off of East Yale Avenue Monday morning.
Other homes in the senior community “continue to be impacted and residents have been displaced because of the utilities that were shut off in the area,” the local fire department said.
The Public Utilities Commission on Saturday asked Heather Gardens to voluntarily stop all underground construction projects in the community — which also comprises a metro district — so that investigators can “assess any further safety risks,” according to Terry Bote, a spokesman for the PUC.
He said a timeline for the moratorium is currently indefinite.
Comcast Colorado was in the midst of a project at Heather Gardens, which involved laying fiber optic cable, according to Leslie Oliver, spokeswoman for Comcast Colorado.
Oliver said Comcast has halted its fiber optic work at Heather Gardens following the fire on Friday. She said the project was started several months ago.
Oliver said she didn’t know whether employees had come into contact with gas lines while completing the fiber optic work.
She said Comcast is also in the process of updating fiber optic cable in the northwest portion of the metro area.
The branch of the American Red Cross that services Colorado and Wyoming has been providing aid and resources to affected residents.
“Our hearts go out to the many residents who are impacted by this tragedy and our department offers our deepest condolences to the family of the victim on this very sad day,” Aurora Fire Chief Fernando Gray Sr. said in a statement. “We will continue to investigate the cause of this incident.”
The investigation looking into the cause of the explosion could take months, officials said.
“We’re looking at an incident with an explosion, debris, a fatality, and injuries,” Stowell said. “So this investigation is going to be lengthy.”