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2 Women Severely Burned In Boulder Apartment Fire

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Nov 17, 2008 7:48 am US/Mountain

2 Women Severely Burned In Boulder Apartment Fire

Maintenance Worker Worked To Alert Tenants, Rescued Woman

Many Residents Lost Everything

Reporting
Howard Nathan
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ― Two women severely burned in Saturday night's apartment fire in Boulder are in critical condition at University Hospital.

One woman has been identified as Kaianna Kadivnik, 26. The name of the other injured woman, a 21 year old, has not yet been released, but relatives identified her as Susan Moi, a so-called 'Lost Girl' from Sudan.

The blaze broke out at the Fairways apartment complex at 5620 Arapahoe Avenue in East Boulder. When firefighters got there, the entire top floor of the complex was fully engulfed in flames.

"Flames were so bad at the time that I couldn't get up to the second floor," said complex maintenance worker Dion Gonzalez. "I was yelling at the windows, throwing things at the windows."

Gonzalez did what he could to alert residents about the fire Saturday night.

Kadivnik was found on fire at the bottom of the stairs by Gonzalez, he said.

"She was in a stairwell between the second and third floor and he actually scooped her up in his arms and brought her out of the building and laid her down in the grass," Sarah Huntley with Boulder police said.

Moi reportedly has third-degree burns to 30 percent of her body.

"It's a different picture, it's not the real Susan that I saw yesterday," said Grace Lokulang, Moi's cousin.

When the evacuated residents came back Sunday, they were told they couldn't go back in because most of the building is now structurally unsound, and according to the fire department, there's not much left for them to recover.

For many of the 32 residents there, memories are now all they have left. For Melissa Speiers, it was her baby pictures.

"That's all I wanted. That's it," Speiers said.

The fire started around 7 p.m. in a third floor unit, possibly in the kitchen. The two women inside were critically burned as they tried to run out.

Nikeea Urioste lived in a unit with her sister and their two children. She said the fire spread so quickly, they warned others as they barely got out and lost everything.

"But it's okay. People are okay, my family is safe. We saved lives," Urioste said.

There was no sprinkler system and Boulder Fire says it wasn't required. The fire and smoke damage is so extensive the Fairways apartments managers says it looks like a total loss and will likely be condemned.

"We're going to work to re-house everybody and we've already contacted other apartment owners that we know," said Mary Roosevelt, Thistle Community Housing CEO.

And among the 32 residents displaced, 16 are refugees from Sudan who have now lost every material thing in their lives for a second time.

"They are all so caring and they help us take care of our children. They're wonderful people and I just feel really bad for them," resident Jennifer Seidl said. "I think with the rest of everybody that's here, and their sponsors, I think that we'll be able to help them make it through."

Officials said if it turns out the complex is not condemned, it will probably be at least Tuesday before residents will be allowed to go retrieve what they can.

The Red Cross has now opened a temporary housing center in Boulder at the Sage Court apartments. They are also working to set up a fund for people who need help.

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