AURORA | Aurora police and fire continued to investigate a Monday-night apartment blaze that left two people dead.
The Adams County coroner’s office on Wednesday identified the two people who died in the fire as Dom Chanhthavongsa, 64, and Bounhieng Thammavongsa, 59. The coroner said the pair died of smoke inhalation but did not rule on the manner of death. The manner of death will likely hinge on whether the fire was started intentionally or accidentally.
Capt. Al Robnett, a spokesman for Aurora fire, said investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility that the massive blaze was caused by arson.
“We’re not ruling out anything at this point,” he said.
Robnett said Tuesday that investigators received a report of someone fleeing the scene with a gas can and are looking into it.
When fire crews arrived around 11 p.m. Monday at the four-story building across Peoria Street from the Anschutz Medical Campus, they found a building already engulfed in flames with some residents hanging from their windows to escape the flames, Robnett said.
Crews immediately started fighting the flames while others used ladders to rescue several people from their windows.
In all, 25 people were in hurt, Robnett said, and 14 were rushed to area hospitals. Robnett said the two people who died were on the building’s fourth floor.