In the early hours of Nov. 15, Lakewood resident Jonathan Campos got the phone call no one wants to ever receive.
While he was traveling home after a trip, his mom, Gloria, called him in a panic. The family’s apartment – their home of 20 years – was on fire.
Campos and his family are among the 30 people displaced by a fire that tore through a Lakewood apartment building before sunrise on Nov. 15, sparked by an unattended space heater on a wooden deck. The fire damaged or destroyed all 10 units in the building, either by fire, water or smoke. One cat was killed in the fire.
The Campos’ apartment was destroyed by water from the fire in the unit above, and Gloria Campos managed to grab her purse and a pair of shoes as she escaped. Everything else in their home was destroyed.
“My mom is devastated – that was her house, that was all she knew,” Jonathan Campos said.
Now, the Campos and other families who lived in the building at West 13th Avenue and North Lamar Street are trying to rebuild their lives from scratch, and at least four of the families have started crowdfunding campaigns through GoFundMe.
FINAL UPDATE: The cause of the fire was an unattended space heater on the wood deck of the second floor end unit. The video from a resident (who lives several doors down from the fire unit) shows fire conditions just as the first engine- West Metro Engine 1- arrived on scene. The… https://t.co/rlZ8lNZq2G pic.twitter.com/BiiibxkZNg
— WestMetroFire (@WestMetroFire) November 15, 2025
The Campos’ are staying with family and trying to get together enough money for a deposit on another apartment and essentials like clothes.
“Everything we had in a blink of an eye just disappeared because of some neighbors that were irresponsible,” Jonathan Campos said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the apartment’s property management company, IPM Residential, said staff were on scene before the fire was put out and helped residents in five units relocate to new housing. Two families decided to terminate their leases and three are still deciding what they want to do, managing partner Debbi King said in an email.
“All our residents have renter’s insurance and are being encouraged to make immediate claims for damage to their personal property,” King said. “Ownership and property management (staff) will also continue to work with residents to provide assistance as needed.”
The apartment fire was also a rare case of a building fire rekindling after firefighters left the scene – which only happens in about 1% of home structure fires, according to West Metro Fire Rescue.
The fire restarted later that night, likely caused by embers caught in the attic insulation, West Metro spokesperson Ronda Scholting said.
“Our firefighters take rekindles very seriously. They train extensively on overhaul, use tools like thermal imaging cameras, and, when needed, return to re-check a scene specifically to catch any lingering hot spots before they become a problem,” Scholting said in a statement. “Even so, in a heavily damaged space with deep debris, there is no way to guarantee zero risk.”
The fire investigation is still open, Scholting added.
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