Christmas Lights Spark Deadly Colorado Fire

A Fountain man trying to escape a fire in his home Monday morning was just three feet from the door when the ceiling collapsed and trapped him inside.

Joe Nauta, 45, died in the fire at 512 Windsor Lane. The Fountain Fire Department said the fire at Crest Mobile Estates that killed Nauta and burned four mobile homes was started by an outlet overloaded with Christmas lights.

"I cannot even tell you what a catastrophe this was," said Shelly Harrison, a family friend. "This looked like a war zone. It still looks like a war zone. The flames were 50 feet high and the firefighters were covered in soot."

Harrison had been with the family on Sunday night as they wrapped gifts and decorated their tree. She left and went to the nearby home where she was staying, and the family members all went to bed happy, she said.

According to Fountain firefighters, Nauta's wife, Janey Nauta smelled smoke about 2 a.m. and woke her family and they all ran outside to a fenced area behind their home. Nauta ran back to grab the key to the fence gate. Harrison said in his last words, Joe Nauta told his wife to get the kids out of there.

Janey Nauta lifted her 5-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter over the fence and then jumped the fence herself. When she realized her husband was still inside, she broke a window to help him escape but he never made it out.

Harrison was there when Nauta carried her kids away from the home.

"Then here comes Janey, out of the fog with two kids in pajamas and bare feet and spit and blood and all she could say was 'Joe didn't get out of the house.'"

The blaze was so intense that firefighters couldn't get inside the home to search for Nauta.

"We knew we were watching him burn, it was horrific," Harrison said.

When the flames were under control, they found his body. No one else was injured, according to firefighters.

The blaze gutted the Nauta home and an abandoned home next door. The house behind, which held a family of four, was also declared unliveable and the Pikes Peak Red Cross provided that family temporary shelter for the night. Another home was also damaged.

Harrison said the Nauta family is staying with family for now, but the owners of the mobile home park will soon place them and the other family in other homes in the park.

She said there has been a huge outpouring of generosity from the community. Thus far they've been given a car, furniture, clothes and several other gifts.

Harrison said Janey Nauta is thankful for the generosity, but is trying to come to terms with the loss of her home and husband. Harrison said he was a good man who loved his family.

"Right to the end, he tried to do the right damn thing."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service