Arrest made in fire that damaged a dozen storage units on Springs’ east side

An arrest has been made in a fire that damaged more than a dozen storage units in Colorado Springs Tuesday.

An arrest affidavit says that Shawn Thomas accidentally started the fire when he poured kerosene into a small tin can and then lit it on fire for warmth.

The document says Thomas was living in a storage unit in violation of the storage facility’s policies and that he used another man’s identity to rent the unit.

Thomas faces charges of attempting to influence a public servant for allegedly lying about his identity when police first questioned him, criminal impersonation and fourth degree arson. The first two charges are felonies.

The arrest affidavit says that the fire damaged 12 units at Citadel Self Storage in the 3900 block of E. Bijou Street.

The fire sent a thick cloud of black smoke into the air, which was visible from many parts of the city. Explosions were reported during the fire, but no one was hurt.

“The units are right next to each other and it’s an exposure issue when a fire starts in one unit, it can spread to the others pretty fast. A lot of them were just packed good with home goods,” said Lt. Fred Varnell with Colorado Springs Fire Department.

“It was scary because I was making popping noises and I didn’t know if something in there would explode. There were two cars outside of the fence I thought would catch on fire,” said Felicia Romero.

This was one of three major fires CSFD responded to on Tuesday.

“Boy its difficult. When that happens luckily we have great mutual aid agreements with our neighboring districts like Cimarron Hills, Stratmoor Hills. They’ll come in and help us out in those times of need,” said Varnell.

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