9 Killed in Colorado Nursing Home Fire : Disaster: Flames engulf facility by the time firefighters arrive. The deadliest blaze in city’s history, it comes just 15 hours after plane crash.

Nine elderly women died early Monday in a nursing home fire that, coming on the heels of a fatal United Airlines jet crash, has dealt this community a double dose of tragedy.

The fire by itself would have been an unprecedented disaster for Colorado Springs, a city of 280,000 at the base of Pikes Peak. But it occurred while the city still was reeling from the crash of United Airlines Flight 585 Sunday morning in a suburb just south of town. All 25 people on board were killed.

“We’ve never had two events of this type in a given 24-hour period,” said Fire Chief Louis A. Roman. “As far as loss of life, this is the worst fire that Colorado Springs has ever experienced.”

In addition to the nine people killed in the fire, eight residents were injured. Four firefighters were slightly injured battling the blaze. Known ages of the dead ranged from 78 to 98.

Two-thirds of the building that housed the Crystal Springs Estate care facility was destroyed in the fire, which had engulfed the building by the time firefighters arrived. Fire officials estimated the damage at $500,000.

The fire in the one-story building broke out shortly after midnight Sunday, about 15 hours after the jet crashed into a park in Widefield, Colo., four miles short of an airport runway, barely missing an apartment building and killing everyone on board.

Investigators had not yet sorted through the airplane’s rubble when fire swept through the care facility. Officials said the age and disabilities of the facility’s residents hindered their escape from the burning building.

“Both were the worst tragedies in the city’s history of their types,” said City Manager Dick Zickefoose. “El Paso County has never had a major airline crash such as this. . . .

“I think probably everybody had a similar reaction” to news of the twin tragedies, he said. “My personal reaction was, ‘Wait a minute. These things don’t happen here.’ You read about them across the country, or you see television news reports of them happening in California or Florida or New Jersey, and you’re a little bit detached from it. It’s not any less of a tragedy, but it’s less personal. Now all of a sudden I think reality has come falling down around our shoulders.”

Zickefoose said he noticed an air of solemnity throughout the city Monday. It started with the elevator ride to his office Monday morning.

“Ordinarily on a Monday morning people are talking, asking each other about their weekends and what have you,” he said. “But this morning people weren’t talking. They were reacting primarily to the crash. Not all of them knew of the nursing home fire at that time.”

Investigators determined that the fire was started by a furnace pipe in the 32-year-old building that, over the years, had dried out an exposed beam in the attic, eventually causing it to catch fire.

The building was last inspected on Aug. 29 and found to be in compliance with the city’s fire code. It was due to be reinspected during the first quarter of this year. Roman said, however, that the inspection may not have averted the fire because inspections generally do not include attics.

The structure was built in 1959, before enactment of a requirement that buildings of that type have sprinkler systems, which Roman said might have saved lives. Smoke and heat detectors were working in the building, yet it was a staff member who first detected the fire at about 12:30 a.m., while nearly all of the 24 residents were in bed.

Investigators believe the fire smoldered for at least an hour in the attic before it was detected. In addition to the nine dead, one woman was in critical condition at Denver Presbyterian Hospital Monday, where she was transported for treatment of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.