Aurora fire investigators are asking the public to help identify a suspect captured on surveillance video at the scene before a fire tore through an apartment complex under construction, a blaze officials say caused an estimated $22 million in damage. The fire broke out on December 14, 2023, near the 7300 block of South Addison Court, just east of E-470 and not far from Aurora Parkway.
According to CBS Colorado, investigators say the fire was intentionally set and are offering a $60,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in connection with the arson or the suspect seen on camera. No one was injured in the blaze, the station reports. Contemporaneous coverage from the time described the destruction in more specific terms: Sentinel Colorado reported that “a total of five apartment units were destroyed in the fire,” rather than five full buildings as more recent coverage has characterized it, and added that no injuries were reported.
Aurora Fire Rescue called in 23 units to battle the blaze, per the Sentinel Colorado report. Crews faced a tough set of conditions at the construction site: officials said there were few fire hydrants in the area because it was new construction, and firefighters had to work around construction equipment that was in the way. CBS Colorado's reporting on the case notes that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted Aurora authorities with the investigation, and that a Denver Fire Department team brought in a dog trained by the ATF to search the scene for possible accelerants.
What Investigators Want the Public to Watch For
Beyond the footage itself, investigators are asking residents to think about behavioral changes among people they know that might point to the suspect. The request, carried in the CBS Colorado report, lists signs such as a change in someone's mood or routine, a sudden unexplained departure, disposing of clothing or showing unexplained injuries, heightened anxiety, changes in substance use, or unusual attention to — or avoidance of — news coverage of the fire. Anyone with information was urged to call 720-913-7867 or visit www.metrodenvercrimestoppers.com.
A String of Construction-Site Fires That Week
The Addison Court fire did not happen in isolation. KDVR reported it was the first of three fires that broke out at buildings under construction within about a week in the Aurora and Wheat Ridge area. Two days later, on December 16, 2023, another large fire struck an apartment complex under construction at Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street, a blaze that prompted a fifth-alarm response according to the Denver Gazette's account of that incident. The Denver Post described it at the time as the second large fire at an Aurora apartment construction site in three days.
The cause of the December 16 fire remained under investigation, and Aurora Fire Rescue said at the time that investigators could not confirm whether the two Aurora fires were connected, per KDVR's reporting from mid-December 2023. A third fire that week, at an apartment building under construction at 38th Avenue and Upham Street in Wheat Ridge, was separately attributed to spontaneous combustion caused by rags that had been used for staining, according to the Denver Gazette.
A Separate Aurora Arson Case Still Unsolved
Aurora has pursued at least one other unresolved arson investigation involving surveillance footage. Sentinel Colorado reported that investigators were seeking to identify a suspect captured on camera in the area shortly before a fire damaged a business strip center on the 2200 block of Dayton Street in northwest Aurora, a blaze reported around 1 a.m. on October 31. In that case, tipsters could remain anonymous and were eligible for a reward of up to $7,000, the outlet noted — a separate case from the Addison Court investigation, but one that reflects a pattern of fire investigators in the city turning to the public and surveillance video to crack unsolved arson cases.
