San Juan Hills Home Destroyed as Local Firefighters Battle Blaze

Volunteer firefighters with Lake City Area Fire Protection District battled a raging north Lake City home fire in San Juan Hills Subdivision for six and a half hours last Wednesday afternoon, May 21.
The 3,336-s.f., two-story frame house with attached 1,200-s.f. three-bay garage consisted of the original 1960s-era portion of the house and a newer 1987 addition with remodel built by Rob Hudgeons’ Silver River Construction.
Damage to the older part of the house was limited to heavy smoke, although the newer portion of the structure was a total loss and reduced to ash and ruins.
Although investigation continues, it is probable the fire spread from point of origin caused by an electric malfunction in a back porch.
Although seasonally occupied, the home had been occupied a few days prior to the fire by the original owner’s daughter and her husband, Ken and Penny (Johnson) Wolters. Mr. Wolters was napping at the time of the fire and was alerted to the blaze with billowing smoke by workmen from Keenan’s Plumbing, Montrose, who were working outside at the time the fire erupted.
Mr. Wolters received burns to his face while successfully evacuating several dogs from the house. Mrs. Wolters’ late father, Roy Johnson, was one of the original Lubbock, Texas, firefighters who bought a lot in Joe Upham’s new San Juan Hills Subdivision in the early 1960s.
Mr. Johnson’s initial home in what was informally known as “Little Lubbock” was a vintage 1960s-era mobile home which in succeeding years was encapsulated within an expanded frame seasonal residence.
Rob Hudgeons’ remodel to the home in 1987 included an extensive remodel and expansion, as well as removing the last vestiges of the 1960s-era mobile home. The most recent remodel included a new kitchen and dining room, and second living room.
Although Roy Johnson, as one of the original seasonal residents in San Juan Hills, is now deceased, the property remains in the family and is periodically occupied by his three daughters, Penny, Tracy, and Roylene, and their families. The house on Lot 39, San Juan Hills Subdivision, is assessed to ROMIPETR, LLC, based out of Clarksville, Arkansas.
The home was equipped with smoke detectors which were operational at the time of last Wednesday’s blaze. Lake City Fire/Rescue was notified of the fire at 1:08 p.m. last Wednesday, May 21, and arrived at the scene with two pumper trucks and a tanker at 1:13 p.m. At time of firefighters’ arrival, fully half of the two-story residence was already engulfed in flame with dense, heavy black smoke.
Firefighters responding to the blaze were Willie Merfeld, Evan Milski, Mike Ralph, Nathan Wuest, R.E. Hall, Greg Levine, Patrick Tubbs, Justin Thompson, Joel Collins, Crystal Earley, and Mike Tuttle.
In addition to the fire district’s two pumper trucks and tanker, Engine 95 brush truck was also brought on scene, together with a pumper truck and three firefighters who were sent in from Gunnison under terms of a mutual aid agreement between the Lake City and Gunnison fire departments.
Fire hydrants do not exist in San Juan Hills Subdivision and firefighting efforts entailed upwards of seven or eight repeat trips by the fire district’s pumper trucks for refills from the hydrant at 9th and Water Street on the Ball Flats in Lake City.
After its start just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, the blaze continued for over six hours prior to official containment at 7:51 p.m. Wednesday. Hot embers at the scene continued to be periodically monitored by firefighter Patrick Tubbs throughout the night Wednesday and until 6:30 a.m. the following morning, May 22.
Also arriving at the fire scene were Hinsdale Emergency Medical Services, Rick Hernandez for wildland fire, Lucas Martin of Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Charles Ferris, and personnel from Gunnison County Electric, latter shutting off electricity to the property and dousing an electric pole which caught fire.
In addition to an electric pole adjacent to the residence which caught fire, small brush and trees adjacent to the home also caught fire, although despite breezy conditions and thanks to skill of local firefighters, the blaze did not spread to neighboring structures.
While investigation into the cause of the fire continues, the home was insured and insurance adjusters have been notified.
Lake City Fire/Rescue and its ranks of volunteers have been especially busy in recent months, not only as the result of ongoing training but also the result of a series of serious house fires garnering the department’s attention.
Prior to last week’s San Juan Hills’ blaze, Lake City Fire/Rescue’s volunteers responded to a devastating fire at the historic Beam-Nichols-Coffin house, 519 Gunnison Avenue, in early September last year. In that fire, the blaze was contained to the two-story, newer portion of the property, although the entire house was later demolished and is now in process of being rebuilt by Bodine Construction.
Major house fires in the Lake City Fire Protection District typically occur once in a decade, local fires since 2000 including the 2012 blaze which destroyed McNitt’s historic Storm Front Gallery, Silver Street and, before then, the fire which totally destroyed the Stephenson-Breeden house overlooking the Ball Flats.