Denver (AP) — Firefighters extinguished the flames that burned rows of seats and suites at the Denver Broncos stadium on Thursday.
The fire broke out after 2 pm on the 4th level of Emperor Field at Mile High, spread to the 3rd level, and burned at least 6 rows of seats in the two sections. Firefighters quickly controlled the flame, but were trying to determine if it had spread to other areas of the soccer stadium, which accommodated 76,125 people.
A stadium official said in a Twitter statement that the fire broke out in the construction zone near the East Club Lounge. At least 100 people attended the event on the second floor, but otherwise the stadium was empty.
About 75 firefighters were at the scene at the height of the flames. No injuries have been reported.
Images from a news helicopter show several firefighters using water hoses to extinguish a fire. And it sent a large plume of swirling black smoke from a stadium near downtown Denver.Denver Fire Department Tweet Some pictures showing a large flame spreading over the entire seating area.
Captain Greg Picksley, a spokesman for the fire department, said the fire appeared to have occurred in the suite, but was partially suppressed by the sprinkler system. Then spread on a plastic sheet.
“This type of plastic, whose sheet is made up of burns, is not only quite ferocious, with a very large flame, but also produces a large amount of black smoke,” he said.
Investigators have not disclosed the cause of the fire that burned at least 1,000 square feet (93 square meters).
The welder’s torch was accused of causing a fire similar to burning a plastic sheet on a stand on the west side of the old Mile High Stadium in January 2002.
“Our firefighters have experience with this kind of fire extinguishing …. whenever a fire breaks out at a higher level, we need to move a large amount of equipment to that environment. Firefighters brought a lot of heavy hoses, equipment, saws, etc. to help extinguish the fire, “Pixley said Thursday.