Tag: Black Forest Fire

(Originally published at 1:05 p.m. MST, November 21, 2013; updated at 9:20 p.m. Nov. 21)

The Fire Chief responsible for the suppression of the Black Forest Fire in Colorado Springs is disagreeing publicly with the county Sheriff about the cause of the fire that killed two people, destroyed 486 homes, and damaged 37 others in June.

Black Forest Fire Chief Bob Harvey told KRDO recently that the fire was caused by a human and “appears intentional”. He said he felt obligated to inform the public adding, “I think the worst thing is this person still is out there.” He said he consulted with outside experts in coming to that conclusion, but did not provide any more details.

Chief Harvey told KKTV that he has been working with investigators over the past few weeks, and they reached the conclusion that the fire was “likely intentional.” He stood by that conclusion Thursday.

However, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, whose department is leading the investigation, disagrees vehemently with the Chief, accusing him of being “less than truthful” about other details concerning the fire.

Below is the text of a press release distributed by the Sheriff just after midnight very early this morning:

DATE: November 21, 2013 [12:30 a.m.]

EL PASO COUNTY SHERIFF TERRY MAKETA FINDS REMARKS MADE BY FIRE CHIEF DISTURBING

Sheriff Terry Maketa was shocked to see recent reports in the local news media where Black Forest Fire Chief Harvey was quoted concerning the active investigation into the cause of the Black Forest Fire. On more than one media source, Chief Harvey was quoted as saying the cause of the fire had been determined to be “intentional”.

Sheriff Maketa offered these comments concerning the inappropriate remarks.

“Do not buy into Chief Harvey’s claims until it’s confirmed by the actual agency that has been the lead of the investigation and will base its findings on indisputable scientific evidence that can withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice system. Right now that isn’t the case. His comments are nothing more than an attempt to mislead the public and a mere witch hunt. Numerous national experts and federal resources have been involved in this investigation and have not and cannot substantiate Chief Harvey’s unqualified knee jerk claims. “Human caused” has been known for a long time but this Chief is not involved in the investigation nor qualified to offer legal and scientific evidence. He does not know the point of origin and has been less than truthful about other circumstances with this disaster and just may be merely covering his own mishandling of this event in an attempt to avoid responsibility for allowing the fire to get out of hand. Furthermore, this Chief didn’t even know homes were burning at a time several were engulfed and never even requested evacuations of nearby households as the fire rapidly grew out of control, clearly placing citizen’s safety in jeopardy. It’s an injustice that he has chosen to jump to these unjustified and inconclusive assumptions without any effort to coordinate with local investigative authorities that have expended extensive resources to identify the cause and manner of this serious tragedy. Chief Harvey’s comments are reckless, irresponsible and lack what is in the best interests of the community following this tragedy.”

Whew!

While cooler weather and even a little rain helped firefighters make progress on the Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs Friday, the reported number of structures destroyed increased to 473. Of those, 419 are homes. An additional  17 structures had partial damage. The official list of affected structures is at the El Paso Sheriff’s web site.

The most current information about the Black Forest Fire is in our main article about the fire.

Yesterday we posted two videos produced by the Department of Defense showing a wildland firefighter’s view from his helmet camera while fighting the Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs, and another that featured the military’s participation in the firefighting effort on the Fire.

Now we have another, this time produced by the Colorado Springs Fire Department which gives the viewer a close-up look at how one of their engine crews protected a residence as the fire approached. The five-minute video summarizes what the crew did over a two-hour period to keep the house from burning, which was made more difficult by a ring of mulch the homeowner had carefully placed around the house. If you have never fought a wildland fire or been engaged in structure protection as a fire spread toward the building, you will be impressed by what it can look like from a firefighter’s point of view.

Congratulations to the Colorado Springs Fire Department for putting this video together.