By Joey BunchThe Denver Post

Three Aurora firefighterswere knocked off their feetby the backdraft of an atticfire Thursday evening, but allwere able to escape the homeand avoid serious injury, aspokesman said.

The firefighters, who werenot identified, were taken to a

hospital as a precaution andwere treated and released.

A resident who was homeat the time was not injured.

Fire crews had been on thescene at 1415 S. Biscay Wayfor a few minutes when theblast of hot air occurred atabout 7 p.m.

The crew was searching forthe source of the fire in the at-tic. The fire had moved froma fireplace into a flue and theattic, said Fire Capt. AllenRobnett.

A backdraft is a current ofhot air that moves backward

down a chimney or pipe.“The force knocked them

down, but they were able topull themselves together andget out on their own power,”Robnett said at about 8:30p.m. “We had them checkedout as a precaution, andthey’ve since been released.”

The cause of the fire was afailure inside the fireplace,but Robnett did not know ifthe fireplace was wood-burn-ing or gas.

Two residents of the home,who were not named, were as-sisted with housing Thursday

night by the American RedCross.

The 30-year-old, single-sto-ry home is on a cul-de-sacsouth of Buckley Air ForceBase and east of South TowerRoad.

Public records show thecurrent owner is Oscar P. Her-nandez. The home was lastsold for $175,000 in January2006.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174or jbunch@denverpost.com

Kinnaird Linn, however, said the boardis investigating because “it appears thatpublic safety has been compromised byan individual regulated by the board.”

The state Division of Fire Safety over-sees school construction in Colorado, in-cluding issuing certificates of occupan-cy. But officials there say their inspec-tions determine whether design plansare being followed — not whether a de-sign is sound.

The division is investigating 20Neenan projects.

“It appears that Howell is trying toshift blame, and we will get to the bot-tom of this through our investigation,”said Kevin Klein, director of the stateHomeland Security Division, which in-cludes Fire Safety.

The Meeker school was closed lastsummer after an independent reviewfound it was designed to the safety codeof a storage shed and susceptible to col-lapse in high winds or an earthquake.

Howell had strongly opposed conduct-ing the outside review, insisting theschool was stable and safe.

Howell did not have a valid license fora period while working on the Meekerproject, but Neenan has said it was validby the time he put his stamp on the de-signs. Howell’s license was expired fromOct. 31, 2007, to Feb. 25, 2009. DORA rep-rimanded him for the lapse.

Kuhn, whom Howell hired in the pastweek, suggested Neenan is using Howellas a scapegoat.

“I think that Mr. Howell has unfairlybeen the target of all the attention in thiscase,” Kuhn said. “I think the facts and ev-idence when it comes to light will exon-erate him.”

A Neenan representative declined tocomment Thursday.

Kuhn also said Howell’s case might bebolstered by a recent report that foundsoils at the Meeker site were classified in-correctly for design purposes.

If Howell and others relied on thosedata to do their work, the responsibilityfalls to the firm that prepared the incor-rect soils report, Kuhn said.

Officials with that firm — TerraconConsultants Inc. — could not be reachedfor comment Thursday.

Howell also was the engineer ofrecord on the Sargent Junior-SeniorHigh School in the San Luis Valley,

which a review found needs repairs be-cause a beam supporting the roof in onearea cannot withstand snow loads.

Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971,egorski@denverpost.com,or twitter.com/egorski

«FROM 1B

Dems in redrawndistrict eye howto treat primaryAn expert says the hopefuls — with fewpolicy differences — must run against notonly Coffman but the entire Congress.

Harlan Gary HowellProfessional engineer

EDUCATION: Bachelor of science, archi-tectural engineering, University of Col-oradoWORK EXPERIENCE: 35 years’ experi-ence. Licensed in Colorado; formerlylicensed in Missouri and Oklahoma.Hired by the Neenan Co. of Fort Col-lins in December 2007 as staff structur-al engineer.NEENAN SCHOOL PROJECTS: VanguardHigh School, Colorado Springs; Ster-ling High School addition, Sterling;Campbell Elementary School addition,Sterling; Ayers Elementary School addi-tion, Sterling; Brush ElementarySchool, Brush; Brush Middle School ad-dition, Brush; Weld Central Elementa-ry School, Keenesburg; Fort MorganHigh School addition, Fort Morgan;

Miami-Yoder High School addition,Rush; West Grand Elementary School,Kremmling; Fraser Valley ElementarySchool addition, Fraser; Granby Ele-mentary School addition, Granby;Meeker Elementary School, Meeker;Sargent Junior-Senior High School,Monte Vista; Alamosa ElementarySchool K-2 Campus, Alamosa; AlamosaElementary School 3-5 Campus, Alamo-sa; Mapleton Early College and Expedi-tionary School of the Arts, Thornton.QUOTE: “An in-depth knowledge of dif-ferent structure types combined witha common sense approach gets opti-mal results.”Sources: 2009 Neenan proposal for schoolbuilding project; Colorado Department ofRegulatory Agencies

Three Aurora firefighters knocked aboutby backdraft from blaze in home’s atticThe trio, who got outon their own, did notsuffer serious injuries.

NEENAN: Soils are at issueafter faulty classification

By Kurtis Lee The Denver Post

With its rich mix of voters,Colorado’s newly aligned 6thCongressional District is demo-graphically among the most com-petitive nationwide and, fornow, the lone district in the stateset to host a primary election asthe new year arrives.

The recent announcement byphysician Perry Haney — whotoyed with the idea of running inthe state’s 3rd District — that hewill join the race has Democratsforced to decide whether he orstate Rep. Joe Miklosi will moveon to challenge incumbent Re-publican Rep. Mike Coffman inthe general election.

Both Democratic candidatesfind themselves competing in adistrict that since its origin inthe 1980s has been a GOP strong-hold but is now divided in thirdsbetween Republicans, Demo-crats and unaffiliated voters.

Still, questions remain abouthow two Democrats should runagainst each other in a new dis-trict where no party has the up-per hand.

“There won’t be a great deal ofpolicy differences between theprimary candidates,” said RickRidder, a Democratic politicalconsultant with RBI Strategies& Research. “In this district,with its political diversity, theyneed to run against the incum-bent Coffman as well as thewhole incumbent Congress,which receives far from stellarapproval ratings.”

Haney’s goal is to capitalize oncalling himself a political outsid-er at a time when voters havegrown weary of so-called careerpoliticians.

“Sending another career politi-cian to Washington, D.C., willproduce more of the nothingthat’s already going on,” saidHaney, taking a jab at both Miklo-si, who has served two terms inthe state legislature, and Coff-man, a former state treasurerand secretary of state whoserved in both chambers of theColorado legislature.

Events from this week couldforeshadow much of the prima-ry. Both Miklosi and Haney ham-mered Coffman through news re-leases and social-media postsfor his “no” vote on a two-monthextension of the federal pay-roll-tax cut.

“I’m going to continue to focuson job growth and highlight Mr.Coffman’s do-nothing record inCongress, and the payroll-taxcut is the latest example of that,”said Miklosi, who at times in a re-cent interview was hesitant tomention his primary challenger,instead wanting to remain onmessage about the district’sneed for jobs and improving theeconomy.

“Initially, Miklosi struggled

with being the legitimate candi-date, and he’s survived that asthere’s no substantial Demo-crats running against him in theprimary,” said political analystFloyd Ciruli. “So now he doesn’tdare give any legitimacy toHaney, who is truly an outsider.”

By contrast, Ciruli said Haney,in positioning himself as the out-sider, is banking that all incum-bents — even two-term state leg-islators — will fall hard in defeatnext year.

“Money will be a tremendousfactor, as it always is,” Cirulisaid. “And if Haney wants tospend his, he can get that visibili-ty on radio and TV and no doubtbe competitive in a primary.”

From the south Denver sub-urbs, spanning east, the 6th Dis-trict now houses all of Aurora,which is among the most racial-ly and socioeconomically di-verse cities in Colorado.

Even so, Ridder says this is aprimary only the most activeand politically engaged votersfrom the district will be engagedin when it arrives in June.

“Who comes out victoriouswill have plenty of time to healbefore moving toward the gener-al election against Coffman, aseasoned campaigner,” Riddersaid, noting the benefit from aprimary is to get out and try dif-ferent campaign tactics. “Youhave to win the pennant, then re-assess and see what team youhave for the World Series.”

Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655,klee@denverpost.comor twitter.com/kurtisalee

Meeker Elementary School opened in fall 2010 but was closed last summer because of structural problems. Investiga-tors found that the school was susceptible to collapse in high winds or an earthquake. Craig F. Walker, Denver Post file

Neenan Co. representative Bob Meserve, right, listens as consultant JohnMechling of CTL Thompson makes a point at a school-board meeting in Meek-er in October. Meeker Elementary has been closed. Craig F. Walker, Denver Post file

Map area

COLORADO

DENVER

JEFFERSO

N

WELD

ADAMS

ARAPAHOE

ELBERTDOUGLAS

E-470

70

25

25

76

6th Congressional District

The Denver PostSources: Denver District Court records; secretary of state

New battlegroundThe newly configured 6th Congressional District is no longer a Republican stronghold — but it still presents challenges for Democrats.

Representative: Mike Coffman (R)

2012 challengers: Joe Miklosi (D) Perry Haney (D)

33% 34% 32%Democrat

Voter affiliation:

Republican Unaffiliated

To find your congressional district, check our searchable map at:photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/projects/new_zones

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6 the denver post B denverpost.com B friday, december 23, 2011 «3B