Firestone, CO – Two bodies were found Tuesday in the basement of a Firestone house that had exploded into flames late Monday, after investigators spent the day peeling away debris in a search for two people missing since the blast.
“The two missing individuals have been found, and they are now in possession of the Weld County Coroner’s Office,” Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District spokeswoman Summer Campos said late Tuesday.
Two other people were hurt in the massive fire — a child and one of the homeowners, Erin Martinez, who was identified Tuesday morning by Westminster’s Mountain Range High School as a science teacher at the school.
A letter to parents said Martinez was in critical condition, that her son and daughter were safe, and that it was believed that her husband and brother were in the house at the time of the explosion.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share some news with you this morning,” the letter from Mountain Range Principal Julie Enger read. “You may have seen on the news last night that there was a home explosion in Weld County. This was the home of our science teacher, Mrs. Erin Martinez.”
Officials have not released the names of the deceased or confirmed whether they were related to Martinez. Campos said Tuesday afternoon that the recovered bodies will officially be identified by the Weld County coroner.
Property records list the house at 6312 Twilight Ave. being owned by Erin and Mark Martinez.
Campos said investigators from the Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District, Firestone Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation are not speculating what led to the fire and why the two people were in the basement at the time of the explosion, though they have ruled out criminal activity, such as hash oil or other drug manufacturing.
On Tuesday, investigators using an excavator removed layer by layer of the smoldering, collapsed house.
“We’re just going to get investigators in there and slowly start removing the rubble and finding out what we can,” Campos said early Tuesday. “It’s definitely going to be a lengthy process, and we may not have an answer on the cause. It could be weeks.”
The smell of smoke was pungent in the neighborhood. Some neighbors walked up the block to the caution tape to survey the scene and other neighbors were close enough to watch from their porches.
“We’re a small community but a growing community, but people have lived here their whole lives, you know, and we all know each other,” Campos said. “The community has been very supportive. Everyone has come out to help. We’re very appreciative of support.”