After apartment fire, experts in Denver metro area share safety tips to remember while warming up

Cleanup is underway after flames swept through several units of a Lakewood apartment complex over the weekend. Belongings could be seen piled up and doors boarded up on Monday after the fire.

"My apartment, oh my God," one tenant could be heard saying on cellphone video that captured the flames erupting.

West Metro Fire investigators believe the fire was started by an unattended space heater on a deck.

"Really, the big safety issue is making sure you don't have anything flammable around that device," said Steve Aseltine, Deputy Chief of Life Safety for West Metro Fire.

"It is inevitable that (the warm spell) is going to change, and when that happens, folks will be using space heaters more and other fire appliances that they can use," he said.

Aseltine recommends using a device with an automatic shutoff. If you're using an older model, make sure it's well-maintained.

He says to keep heaters at least 3 feet away from anything flammable, including clothes, curtains and blankets -- and never leave a heater unattended.

"Stay with the device. Stay there, and if you leave -- and we can get distracted over the holidays -- make sure you turn that device off," he said.

Thirty people were initially displaced because of the fire, and many are turning to community organizations like the American Red Cross and Our Front Porch for support.

West Metro Fire added this is a good time to make sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. And with conditions being extremely dry, they say to clear any dead vegetation -- like leaves and branches -- from around your home. One ember in that kind of debris, they warn, could lead to a much bigger problem.