A father and two children were severely injured last week when snow and ice slid from the roof of a multifamily residence at Purgatory Resort and struck the family.
All three were taken to Mercy Hospital in Durango before being flown to a Denver-area hospital, said Karola Hanks, fire marshal for the Durango Fire Protection District. The two children, both younger than 10, were in critical condition at the time of the incident. The father was in serious or critical condition, Hanks said.
She did not have an update Wednesday on the family’s condition. She also did not know whether the family was local or from out-of-town.
“We feel for the family,” Hanks said.
The slide occurred about 5:30 p.m. March 16 in a condo or townhome development along Sheol Street south of the main Purgatory lodge.
Hanks was unsure if the snow slid from a two-story roofline or from a slightly lower overhang. She said the family was at ground level when the snow hit.
“We’ve had such wet snow, and we’ve had some warmups and some melting,” she said. “And so we know that there are ice dams and that type of thing on a lot of roofs.”
It was not immediately known who owns the condo or townhome. Durango Mountain Resort is a developer in the area and owns a lot of the real estate, but many units are under private ownership and overseen by a homeowners association or property manager.
A spokeswoman for Purgatory Resort did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Hanks warned that falling snow and ice can also sever gas lines and cause leaks and explosions.
“We all know there's been significant levels of snow, which we haven’t had since maybe 2019,” Hanks said. “... It does make it much more difficult for everyone to keep up with.”
She is especially worried about vacation homes and second-home owners who may not be home during the winter.
“We’ve rolled on numerous gas leaks up in that area (Purgatory Resort), and at Electra Lake, in which the snow and ice has broken the gas line,” she said.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center created an incident about the slide, calling it an avalanche at the Purgatory Ski Resort Condos. Hanks said she is not sure why the CAIC characterized the slide as an avalanche.
shane@durangoherald.com
