DENVER — Households across the Denver metro are facing record, sub-zero temperatures. The bitterly cold reality is tenfold for those left without heat via frozen pipes, which wreaked havoc on boiling systems.
"It's terrible, it was a freezing here last night," Laura Contreras said. "Blankets don't even help, you know, because it's so cold."
Contreras told Denver7 she first noticed her apartment didn't have heat Wednesday evening. She lives in the Sheridan Gardens apartment complex in Englewood.
"It’s been really cold," Contreras said. "I tried calling the manager and no answer. Same with corporate, I called them and left messages. I left about five messages and still haven't gotten a call back."
The frigid tale began for most of the metro Wednesday evening. The National Weather Service reported the temperature at Denver International Airport fell from 42 degrees to 5 degrees in a single hour — the largest one-hour drop ever recorded.
The bitter cold lingered through Friday evening with no relief in sight until Saturday.
A Denver7 producer living near the Alamo Placita neighborhood went without heat in her apartment building beginning early Friday morning.
"I went to wash my hands this morning and noticed the hot water wasn't working. So then I checked my thermostat and saw it was about 20 degrees lower than what I had set to," the producer said.
An email from her property management said the issue was the result of a frozen pipe, preventing the complex's boiler from producing heat.
"They sent out an email about 10:30 this morning and said they're going to give us space heaters," the producer said.
Meanwhile Contreras, desperate for warmth, had to seek out a solution of her own — although a dangerous one.
"I couldn't even sleep last night because I had the oven on and I was scared it would start a fire or something," she said. "I would wake up and keep going back and forth checking the oven. It's scary, you know, leaving it on like that."
Property management for Sheridan Gardens told Denver7 they were only alerted to the issue Friday. Residents told Denver7 the heat had been restored as of 2 p.m. Friday.