Authorities announced Wednesday the arrest of a man in connection with one of the largest fires Denver has seen in decades.

Tony Becerra, 38, faces arson charges in relation to a five-alarm fire on Leetsdale Drive that burned and destroyed an under-construction apartment building on Jan. 2, according to a Wednesday news release from the Denver Fire Department.

At the time of the alleged arson, he had an active failure to appear warrant and has several previous felonies on his record.

Through a collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which deployed its national response team to investigate the fire just days after it sparked, authorities were able to identify Becerra using security camera footage and track his movements for over two hours after he left the scene, according to Becerra’s arrest documents.

Additionally, Becerra was caught on security footage about an hour before the building caught fire filling up an object at a gas pump on Colfax Avenue in Aurora, according to the documents. That object was in a bag he carried with him both to and away from the building.

Taking place at the intersection of Leetsdale Drive and South Forest Street in southeast Denver, the fire was first reported around 6:45 p.m. Jan. 2 and quickly burned through the building. The only reported injury was a firefighter who threw out his shoulder after it got caught in a hose.

Denver Fire Division Chief of Operations Robert Murphy told the media the following day that the five-, nearly six-alarm fire was the largest he had seen in his 30-year career with the department.

“We have had other large fires, such as the Glendale fire and the Emerson Street fire, but they never really reached the capacity in terms of firefighters that this one did,” Murphy said.

Becerra has an extensive criminal history and goes by the alias of “Psycho” and “XX,” according to Colorado court records. He has been arrested at least 10 times from 2001 to 2020, including violent charges like assault, domestic violence, retaliation, and felony assault causing serious bodily injury, and was sentenced to four years in the Department of Corrections in 2011 for a felony assault conviction.

Based on a review of security footage, investigators determined that Becerra entered the building around 6:30 p.m. and was the only unidentified person leaving the area at 6:34 p.m., about three minutes before smoke was first observed at the construction site.

After leaving the site and walking down Leetsdale for about 25 minutes, Becerra was seen on footage walking into the Taste of India restaurant and immediately going into a bathroom for several minutes, according to the documents. He then walked out wearing a white shirt and carrying a black item under his left arm.

The surveillance video taken of Becerra in the restaurant was submitted to a facial recognition database, where it was matched with the photo on his driver’s license, according to the documents. Investigators also ran the photo through a Colorado Bureau of Investigation database, where they uncovered his criminal history.

After exiting the restaurant, Becerra was seen getting on a bus from Leetsdale Drive and taking it to the 9 Mile Transit Station in Aurora, according to the documents. He then got on a light rail train at the station and exited at the Florida transit station. He was last seen on camera walking northeast through the parking lot in the 1200 block of South Abilene Street in Aurora.

During the investigation, Becerra’s photo was provided to the field superintendent of the construction site, who did not recognize the man as a construction employee, according to the documents. Additionally, other contractors and the building’s security organization also did not recognize him.

In total, more than 150 firefighters responded to the scene and about 18 million gallons of water were used from the beginning of the response until crews stopped spraying Jan. 5. Police evacuated at least 10 homes in the area during the blaze and officials closed Leetsdale Drive for several days while crews battled the fire.

Denver Gazette City Editor Dennis Huspeni contributed to this report.