The cause of a Feb. 19 fire at a Littleton apartment complex is
still not known.
The fire, which touched off an explosion that blew out windows,
originated in a second-floor unit of Gallup House Apartments.
A 53-year-old man who lived there had multiple oxygen tanks,
which were ignited by the fire, inside the apartment for a medical
condition. He was hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation.
“We are still in the process of completing numerous interviews
relating to the fire and completing a comprehensive examination of
the evidence recovered at the scene,” Littleton Fire Department
Investigator Rick Young wrote in an e-mail. “Until this is complete
and the evidence supports the conclusion, we will not release a
specific cause.”
Investigators have ruled out electrical and mechanical causes.
Young said the fire department wants to interview the occupant of
apartment 211, who, according to Gallup House Apartments Property
Manager Ellie Hockstad, is still at University of Colorado Hospital
in critical condition. Neither the Fire Department nor Hockstad
would release his name.
Hockstad said that all but two of the seven people displaced by
the fire have moved back into their apartments. The occupants of
the two apartments on either side of 211 have been permanently
relocated to another unit in the building, Hockstad said.
Damage to the building is estimated at $300,000.
On March 1, a sign on the door of the apartment where the fire
started warned of asbestos inside. Hockstad said there was no
threat to tenants of the building.
