AURORA — A disabled, homeless man who was taken in by a compassionate homeowner died this morning in an Aurora house fire.
The intense, fatal fire in the Cobblewood Creek subdivision started at about 3:30 a.m., Aurora fire officials said this morning.
Battalion Chief Mark Turley said when firefighters arrived at 15672 E. Custer Place, the two-story, 2,000-square foot home was fully engulfed, with flames shooting out all the windows on the ground floor.
One man managed to escape and told firefighters there was a second person trapped in the home.
The fire was so intense that the trapped man, whose body was later found in the home’s living room, could not be rescued, said Turley.
Turley said the man who was able to escape will be OK. He was taken to a local hospital to be checked out as a precautionary measure, said Turley.
Officials did not identify him, but neighbors and his family said he is Dean Swiekatun.
The American Red Cross Mile High Chapter is helping him with a hotel room, money for food and clothes and replacing eyeglasses and prescription medications.
The man trapped inside the home who died was a “homeless” man with a disability — he had one leg —, said neighbor Henry Westrich.
Westrich, who runs a food pantry at a neighborhood church, describes Swiekatun, the homeowner, as a “real nice guy.”
Swiekatun knew that Westrich ran the pantry and he volunteered to help.
“He was willing to help people,” Westrich said. “Witness the fact that he had a homeless man living with him.”
Westrich said he doesn’t know how the two men met, but he did say that the homeless man had been living there for about a month along with his dog, a cockapoo named Jinx.
The dog is safe at an animal shelter.
Westrich knew the victim only by his first name, he said.
From the street, the home looked to be gutted by the fire. The garage of the home, with a car inside it, is charred black. Bedroom windows above the garage, in the front and back of the home, were also charred.
Sheets of ice, from water firefighters used to put out the blaze, turned the block into a slippery danger zone.
Turley said more than two dozen firemen responded to the blaze and arrived within six minutes of the initial call.
The blaze was so intense that firefighters had to protect surrounding homes from the flames. Turley said the firemen shot streams of water onto the outside of the burning home to keep the flames from reaching nearby residences.
Charity Terry, who lives with her boyfriend Jason Andrews directly across the street from the burned home, said the barking of their dogs woke them early this morning.
She said their irritation with the barking dogs – a lab mix and a poodle mix – quickly gave way to horror when they realized why the dogs were barking.
“We came down the stairs to yell at them (the dogs),” said Terry.
“But Jason looked out the window” and saw the fire across the street.
“Oh my God, the house is on fire,” Terry remembered thinking. “It was like the whole house was on fire.”
Andrews said the street outside their home was a “mess of fire trucks”. Because of the intensity of the fire, Andrews said he “worried that the people may not have gotten out.”
He said he had met the owner several years earlier when the owner had brought his kids over to a birthday party for one of Andrews’ three children.
Both Terry and Andrews said firemen were spraying large amounts of water on the two houses on either side of the burning home to keep them from catching fire.
Andrews said his three children slept through the commotion.
Westrich said his family was awakened early this morning by a firefighter knocking at his door to warn them about the fire.
The firefighter told the family to get dressed and be prepared to flee at a moment’s notice, Westrich said.
“It was disconcerting,” Westrich said.
The family gathered up pets, a cat and a dog, and Westrich’s wife grabbed a couple of prized fiddles in case they had to dash.
Turley said firefighters have not yet determined what caused the intense blaze.
Among other things that will be investigated are whether it was caused by an electrical malfunction, Christmas tree lights or decorations, or possibly smoking.
Turley said fire investigators are at the scene and it may be a couple of days before they can ascertain the cause.
Turley said the fire “was pretty stubborn” and took 20 to 30 minutes to bring under control.
“The home is a total loss. It is a shell,” said the battalion chief.
He said no firefighters were injured, but that the area around the home is coated in ice from water used to fight the fire.
“It is a complete skating rink,” said Turley.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
