A maintenance man who lived in a Boulder apartment complex pulled a badly burned woman to safety as fire raged around them Saturday.
Dion Gonzales dragged the woman from the second-floor landing of the three-story building, said Mary Roosevelt, CEO of Thistle Community Housing, the nonprofit owner of the Fairways Apartments at 5620 Arapahoe Ave.
Gonzales, who lived with his wife in a first-floor unit, “heard someone calling for assistance and help and was able to pull her out of the stairwell. He must have gone up a flight of stairs to get to her,” Roosevelt said.
Officials identified her as Kaianna Kadivnik, 26. Witnesses and neighbors identified the other victim as Susan Moi, 21. Both women were in critical condition Sunday at University Hospital in Denver.
Gonzales, who is in his mid-40s, was treated for smoke inhalation. He wasn’t speaking to media Sunday, she said. “He is looking forward to a day of football.”
The Red Cross has relocated Gonzales, his wife and other residents to a temporary shelter. Thirty-two people lived in the 10 unit-building, one of four that make up the complex.
“The building isn’t burned to the ground, but it is completely uninhabitable. We’re not optimistic that much can be salvaged,” Roosevelt said.
The building’s third floor collapsed and the east side of the building is destroyed.
Fire investigators have not determined the cause of the fire, the Boulder Fire Department said in a news release. It took 27 firefighters about an hour to get the fire under control.
The Red Cross has an information center at the Community Room in Thistle’s Sage Court Apartments at 2965 Valmont Road. The organization is providing misplaced residents with vouchers for food and clothes.
Thistle staff is attempting to relocate everyone displaced by the fire to another apartment.
The local nonprofit provides affordable housing for working families and people with disabilities. Thistle manages more than 1,000 rentals and owner-occupied homes in Boulder County and Northglenn.
The company had recently completed renovation of the 70 apartments in The Fairways complex.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
