Susan Moi — one of two women badly burned in an apartment fire Saturday — was safely outside the building before she was seen rushing back in, witnesses and friends said Tuesday.

Dominic Ario, one of Moi’s friends, said he was standing outside the building just before 7 p.m. Saturday when Moi and a friend rushed up. They’d been at a nearby gas station when they spotted smoke rising from Moi’s apartment building.

Ario said Moi’s friend tried to stop her from running back inside.

“But he couldn’t stop her,” Ario said. “She ran back inside ... . Once she opened a door, the fire rushed out.”

Boulder police and fire officials are continuing to investigate how and where the fire started, but they’re not releasing any preliminary information on the cause or origin. The blaze eventually charred one of four buildings in the Fairways Apartments complex, 5620 Arapahoe Ave., leaving 32 people homeless and without their possessions.

Both Moi, 21, a Sudanese refugee, and Kaianna Kadivnik, 26, remained in critical condition Tuesday at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver. A maintenance worker, Dion Gonzales, found Kadivnik lying in a stairwell between the second and third floors during the evacuation. Her naked body was on fire, and Gonzales scooped her up, rushed her outside and lay her on the grass.

Witnesses have reported that Kadivnik had just gotten out of the shower when she realized the building was on fire, said Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.

“She tried to run from the building,” Huntley said. “That’s why she didn’t have any clothes on to protect herself from the fire.”

Beyond that, Huntley said, investigators believe it’s “premature” to discuss details of witness accounts from the night, and she wouldn’t confirm whether Moi encountered the fire while going back into the building.

Fire crews returned to the apartments Tuesday to do some preliminary work in the unstable structure.

Josephine Louis, who is Moi’s cousin and also lives in the complex, said she was at work when the fire broke out and wasn’t with Moi when it happened. But, Louis said, she also has learned that Moi was coming from a gas station and was trying to re-enter the building when “she met the fire.”

“She was opening the door, and the power of the fire just came at her,” Louis said.

She didn’t know whether it was a door outside the building or one inside.

Several of Moi’s friends and family members saw her being treated at the scene and rushed to the hospital. Both Moi and Kadivnik eventually were airlifted to the CU Hospital’s burn unit.

Louis, who has been visiting her cousin at the hospital, wanted to see Moi again but said doctors refused visitors because they were planning to operate all day Tuesday.

Other victims who lost their homes and possessions in the 10 destroyed units are receiving donations and housing help from Thistle Community Housing, the nonprofit company that owns the complex.

As of Tuesday, two of the 10 families had been relocated into new apartments and were receiving donated furniture and clothes. Most of the other families are staying with friends, said Susan Andre, resource development director for Thistle.

Thistle has been working with Boulder Housing Partners and the Boulder County Housing Authority to find affordable places.

Michael Passe, 51, and his 15-year-old daughter have been staying at the home of one of her teenage friends. He hasn’t started looking for another place yet because — until Tuesday — he had hoped to get back in his first-floor unit to see what could be saved.

“The most recent word, from what I’ve heard, is that the police and fire departments turned possession back over to the insurance company, and they’re going to recommend that no one be allowed back in at all, ever,” Passe said. “That means I’ve lost everything.”

Camera Staff Writer Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.