Estes Park Fire Destroys Much Of The City's Main Tourism Thoroughfare (VIDEO)

The Park Theater Mall in Estes Park has been largely destroyed by a Monday morning fire.

The Denver Post reports on the damage:

As many as six businesses in the mall were destroyed by the fire.

"This is a real tragedy for the property owner and businesses in the building," said Pinkham.

The mall is located on the south side of East Elkhorn Avenue, the main street through the town.

The Estes Park volunteer fire department was aided by firefighters from Loveland, Fort Collins, Allenspark and several rural fire departments.

As of 10:15 a.m., the roof of the mall had collapsed, although walls of the mall, described as being relatively small, were still standing, said Pinkham.

Fox 31 is reporting that the fire started in the attic above a Christmas shop.

9News cites an Estes Park News reporter in describing the gravity of the fire:

"It's still really bad, there's huge flames still coming out of the Park Theatre Mall historic building, the flames have reached the front of the Park Theatre Mall building, which is on the Elkhorn side, which is our very downtown," Kris Hazleton of the Estes Park News said around 9 a.m. "So the fear is there since the wind's picked up, the fire is going to spread to different buildings in the downtown area
Source huffingtonpost.com