A tenant who had been kicked out of a Littleton apartment building is suspected of setting it ablaze early Saturday and calling a relative for money to find a new place to live, police said today.
Authorities are looking for Gary Eisenach, 56, who had occupied the ground-floor apartment where the fire broke out in the converted house at 6295 S. Santa Fe Drive south of Hudson Gardens.
Police think he is driving a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder with Colorado license plate number 749WTO.
The fire began at 6:20 a.m. and spread, consuming an apartment above Eisenach’s and spreading to the attic.
“A family member told us today that they were contacted yesterday afternoon by the suspect asking for money because he had been evicted,” Lt. Sean Dugan, a Littleton police spokesman, said in an e-mail this afternoon. “They did not know apparently, that he had been evicted. When they saw he was a suspect they called us.”
Dugan said two of the five apartments in the complex were damaged, and four of the five were occupied at the time of the fire.
No one was seriously injured, but one person was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening smoke inhalation, authorities said.
Investigators found evidence a liquid that might have been placed to start the fire, said Jim Hofstra, a spokesman for Littleton Fire Rescue.
The fire took about 30 minutes to extinguish, he said.
Dugan said Eisenach has some “mobility issues” and police are investigating a tip that he might have seen driving a cart at a King Soopers in Lakewood.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call police at 303-795-3894.
Liz Navratil: 303-954-1054 or lnavratil@denverpost.com
