AURORA — Despite his own troubles, Dean Swiekatun had room in his heart and his home for others.
But that generosity ended in tragedy early Tuesday.
A disabled homeless man who had only recently moved in at Swiekatun’s invitation died in a fire that gutted Swiekatun’s Aurora home at 15672 E. Custer Place.
The homeless man, a leg amputee, has not been named. Swiekatun, 47, escaped the flames that gutted his home in the Cobblewood Creek subdivision.
John Swiekatun, Dean’s father, said his son suffered smoke inhalation but was not burned. He spoke with his son Tuesday afternoon and expects him to be OK, he said.
“He wasn’t anywhere near the fire when it started,” he said, declining to elaborate or speculate on the cause.
He said his son had met his roommate in an alcohol rehabilitation facility. The younger Swiekatun is disabled from a car accident.
Battalion Chief Mark Turley said investigators were examining several possible causes, including an electrical malfunction in the 34-year-old home, shorted-out Christmas lights and whether one of the men was smoking and fell asleep.
“The home is a total loss,” Turley said. “It is a shell.”
When rescuers arrived about 3:30 a.m., flames were billowing from the ground-floor windows of the two-story home.
The dead man was found in the living room, Turley said. He had been living in the home about a month with his dog, a cockapoo named Jinx, said Henry Westrich, a neighbor who runs a church food pantry where Swiekatun volunteers.
Swiekatun “was willing to help people,” Westrich said. “Witness the fact that he had a homeless man living with him.”
Westrich knew the homeless man only by his first name. The dog is safe at an animal shelter.
Westrich said his family was awakened by a firefighter who banged on their door and warned them to get dressed and be prepared to flee.
The family grabbed their cat and dog and a couple of prized fiddles but were never forced out by the intense flames.
Neighbors Charity Terry and Jason Andrews were awakened by the barking of their own dog and were horrified by the intense flames that had engulfed the home across the street.
“It was like the whole house was on fire,” Terry said.
Andrews worried that their neighbors had not made it out. He recalled how Swiekatun and his children attended a birthday party for one of Andrews’ three children.
Swiekatun was divorced earlier this year, and his wife of 12 years has custody of their four children, according to public records.
The American Red Cross Mile High Chapter is helping him with a hotel room and money for food and clothes, and replacing eyeglasses and prescription medications.
Staff writer Joey Bunch contributed to this report.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
