Golden capital burned last night Golden capital burned last night

Last night, the building in which the Colo. territorial legislature met in the 1860s burned in Golden. I had walked by it maybe fifteen minutes before the fire broke out. I heard sirens and helicopters a little later, but ignored them, as I was involved in a book at the time. A little later, I was walking (again) and wondered why the entire Golden police department was blocking off Wash. Street in downtown Golden. Upon further investigation, I saw three large ladder trucks in position on three sides of the building, along with that many pumpers. Some of the fire units were from other fire districts, including one ladder truck from West Metro.

You couldn't get very close to the building last night. The police were keeping everyone except TV crews about a block away. But it looked like all the windows on the 2nd floor had been broken out, as well as some of the top of the wall in the back. Later I heard that they had about a foot of water on that floor.

The interesting question is whether they will be able to rebuild. This building is on the national registery (well, it did house the capital at one point some 140 years ago). But the brick is apparently very soft, so it is not clear what will happen to it.

This morning, all the Denver TV stations had TV trucks and crews there. I got to watch a Fox 2 newsman interview someone from the Buffalo Rose bar across the street who saw the start of the fire. Also, the fire investigators had just arrived. In any case, at one point, I counted five TV trucks with their satellite booms extended up above the two story buildings along Wash. street, with several more with them unextended. That was my excitement for the morning - though it would have been fun to get interviewed.