Moments after Brian Rauzi and two other Littleton police officers pulled a severely burned man from his blazing apartment, some oxygen tanks exploded, feeding an already raging inferno.
“We walked down the flight of stairs, laid him down on the ground, the paramedics showed up, and we went back up and started knocking on the other doors to get people out,” Rauzi, 26, said Sunday. “There were a couple of smaller bangs but then the big one, it just echoed off all the buildings. The fire was so big, it didn’t slow down any after that.”
The fire late Friday at the Gallup House Apartments caused about $300,000 in damage and sent five people, including Rauzi and the other two officers, to the hospital. Investigators say the fire was accidental but have ruled out an electrical or mechanical cause, Littleton Fire Division Chief Doug Ireland said.
When Littleton police arrived at 11:46 p.m., flames were already shooting from the second-floor apartment’s windows, Rauzi said.
A resident who was standing with others in front of the building told police someone needed help on the second floor. Rauzi and Officer Tim Kampmann found the man lying unconscious in the burning apartment’s doorway. They moved him away from the door.
“The flames were getting bigger,” Rauzi said. “Then, Officer (Nik) Dimitric showed up and we were able to pick him up and take him down.”
The 53-year-old man who lived in apartment 211, where the blaze began, remains in critical condition at University of Colorado Hospital.
The man, whose name hasn’t been released, was apparently taking oxygen for a medical condition. There were three cylinders of liquid oxygen and five portable compressed- gas tanks in the apartment. The three liquid-oxygen tanks and one of the small tanks ruptured, Ireland said.
“The liquid oxygen wouldn’t start the fire, but once it starts to boil and build up pressure and fail, it will increase the size of the fire.”
The explosions sent flames climbing the exterior wall to the floor above, Ireland said.
Rauzi, Kampmann and Dimitric were taken to a hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Another resident was taken to a hospital and also treated for smoke inhalation.
They were released Saturday.
Twenty-two people were evacuated from the complex, and the Red Cross is helping them, Ireland said.
Seven apartments were damaged badly enough that they can no longer be occupied.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
