Waldo Canyon fire investigation results to be revealed Sept. 12
Posted: 08/30/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT
Updated: 08/30/2012 09:49:36 AM MDT
By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/liv...ATION%7Ep1.jpgAlfredo Hernandez with First General Services cleans up the remains of the deck at Jack Ross' home, which was burned in the Waldo Canyon Fire. (Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post file)
The public will have to wait nearly two weeks to learn what investigators have concluded in their probe into the cause and origin of the Waldo Canyon fire.
A Sept. 12 press conference has been scheduled in Colorado Springs to reveal the information, said Steve Segin, spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center.
The 18,247-acre fire west of Colorado Springs was the most destructive in Colorado history, killing two people, and destroying nearly 350 homes valued at more than $110 million. It cost more than $16 million to fight.
The Forest Service this week is finishing its draft report on the cause and origin of the fire, said Segin, who could confirm only that the fire was human-caused.
The only other option would be a lightning-sparked fire, but there were no reports of lighting in the area on June 23, when the fire started off of a hiking trail in the Pike National Forest west of the city.
"It was not a natural-ignition fire," he said. "But human-caused could mean anything."
Federal and local investigators have been involved in the probe, including the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, and Colorado Springs police and El Paso County Sheriff's Office. Colorado Springs Police homicide detective Sgt. Adrian Vasquez has been heading the local investigation, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, jpmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost