Everyone escaped a fire Friday that destroyed a historic home in Manitou Springs, city spokesperson Alex Riegelmann said.

Firefighters responded to the blaze around 2 a.m. at 30 Burns Road near the SunWater Spa. The home was engulfed in flames, which were spreading to nearby vegetation, Riegelmann said.

At least one person was home when the fire broke out, but made it out safely. The fire threatened three nearby homes, and a damaged powerline caused other residents to be displaced, Riegelmann said.

Had it not been for the firefighters’ fast response, things could have been worse.

“They literally stood in the way of the approaching fire (to prevent the spread),” Riegelmann said. “This very much could have been a much larger incident with more structures involved, but, thankfully, it was not.”

The fire’s cause is under investigation.

Video of the fire that broke out at a Manitou Springs home early Friday morning.

📷Courtesy of Mike Padgett pic.twitter.com/rGwGb2kCKv

— Nick Smith (@_nsmith_35) June 5, 2026

The house, nestled along a dirt road in the Washington Avenue neighborhood, was about 100 years old, the homeowner told Gazette news partner KOAA.

The blaze follows Gov. Jared Polis’ declaration on Thursday that the state is under an emergency drought. Nearly 93% of the state is in moderate to exceptional drought, according to his announcement.

“These fires can be very unpredictable, and it can even be explosive,” said Colorado Springs fire Capt. JJ Halsey.

Fire departments have protocols in place to prevent structure fires near heavy, dry vegetation from turning catastrophic. For example, crews will deploy brush engines, which are normally not used in structure fires, when vegetation is involved.

Departments are also closely monitoring weather conditions, especially in high-hazard areas, amid a heightened sense of awareness for this fire season, Halsey said.

The dry conditions have had fire officials voicing concerns for several months. In March, the Colorado Springs fire chief told the City Council that the conditions have the Fire Department “on pins and needles.”

At the time, state fire officials told The Gazette that this fire season could be a “magnitude worse” than the conditions that led to some of the worst wildfires in the state, such as the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires.

Humidity levels are generally higher in early to mid-mornings because fuels tend to capture moisture overnight. By the afternoon, those fuels dry out, and winds tend to pick up, Halsey said.

“All of those things kind of come in to make a perfect recipe that creates really prime conditions for fires to just take off. So, we just have to make sure we’re being really proactive and quickly get out there,” Halsey said.

Halsey urged residents to try to create a space between their homes and any nearby vegetation, which he said could prevent a fire from spreading to the building.

He also told people to make sure their smoke alarms are working. In this situation, a functioning smoke alarm was likely the difference between life and death for the resident, Manitou Springs Fire Chief Keith Buckmiller told KOAA.

Here is a list of fire-related resources:

• The National Weather Service fire safety and preparedness resource page.
• FireWise USA program toolkit.
• Live Wildfire Ready home protection page.
• The Colorado Springs Fire Department fire risk map.
• InciWeb map for federal fires.
• National Interagency Fire Center wildfire map.
• El Paso and Teller counties provide updates on evacuation statuses via PeakAlerts.