Terry Stokka has lived in Black Forest for 29 years. He is president of the Friends of Black Forest, chairman of the Black Forest Land Use Committee and chairman of the Black Forest Water & Wells Committee.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in the content of this column belong to the writer and not the newspaper or its affiliates.
How did the Black Forest Fire start?
By Terry Stokka
In 2013, the Black Forest fire burned 14,000 acres, destroyed 488 homes and killed two people. Returning the forest to the original state will take several generations or more. The nagging question is, “How did this fire start?”
After a lengthy investigation, the El Paso County Fire Marshal declared that the fire was “human caused” but didn’t make a determination of whether it was intentional or accidental. The reasons for this determination are not known to us. To us, it was clearly intentional.
The fire started on an 11-acre-lot a half-mile south of my house on the east side of Falcon Drive, which is a private gravel road going north from Shoup Road that serves five residents. The lot was vacant, tree-covered and had no buildings or power lines. The fire department got the first call about 1:40 p.m. in the afternoon on a day that was 97 degrees and 4% humidity. The temperature was a record high for the second day in a row. The wind was brisk but would soon gust up to 47 mph. The snow and rainfall were only half the normal amount for the year. The conditions were ripe for a fire.
The first firemen on the scene laid a hose line on a ridge east of the fire and waited for it to come up the hill. Just as the fire approached the top of the hill, a gusty wind from the west topping 47 mph suddenly pushed the fire over the ridge into the treetops on the other side. Burning in the treetops on a windy day, the fire “crowned” and went skipping eastward from treetop to treetop. The firefighters hastily retreated, abandoning their hose line on the ridge. They barely escaped with their lives. After the fire, I found burned hose lines all along that ridge.
The fire raced eastward with the gusty winds and didn’t stop until the wind died down seven hours later and 8 miles farther east. Subsequent fires on the next two days pushed the fire wider and farther north before it was brought under control.
Back at the starting point, the fire marshal determined that the fire started on the southeast corner of the lot, 800 feet east of Falcon Drive. That area was suspicious because an early helicopter picture of the fire showed a lot of smoke in this area. Two workers had been doing tree work in that area previously but were not working that day. Neighbors reported seeing the men running on the lot next door. They were immediately under suspicion, but it was determined that they were not present when the fire started but returned upon hearing about the fire to save animals.
One investigator stated in a newspaper article that the fire might have started by embers from a nearby home that was being remodeled, and that the workers had been burning old cabinets in the fireplace. This was not confirmed but begs the question, “Who would burn old cabinets in a fireplace in the middle of the day with a temperature of 97 degree outside?” Furthermore, this house and the trees for more than 100 feet around the house survived and were not burned. This theory is simply not logical.
I have personally talked to a man with first-hand insight into the real story. A man I will call “Bill” saw smoke and approached Falcon Drive from the north where he saw a small cluster of trees burning with a nondescript 40-ish-man watching it. Bill had already called 911 but there were no fire trucks on the scene yet. After confirming the 911 call, the two men parted with Bill going north to his car and the other man walking south along Falcon Drive toward Shoup Road. I know the people who live on Falcon Drive personally and this nondescript man who walked south was not one of them.
Another critical observation was made by men I have personally interviewed who were doing tree work on Tahosa Lane to the west. They saw smoke and walked eastward to Falcon Drive where they were stopped by a “wall” along Falcon Drive. Just across Falcon Drive was a truck with several firefighters monitoring a small fire east of the road. They could see smoke to the north where my friend Bill observed the fire earlier. There is only one place on Falcon Drive that has a “wall” and that is a small brick wall on either side of a driveway, south of the location where the first fire was observed.
So here are two different fires on the same road at almost the same time. The “nondescript” man could have started the first fire, walked south, started the second fire, gotten into his vehicle and been out of the forest to the west in just minutes. His description by Bill was not enough to help the authorities find out his identity.
After talking to an official from the Black Forest Fire Department, my opinion is that the county fire marshal was not thorough in interviewing the first responders or the tree workers who saw the small fire east of the “wall.” They dismissed the written report from Bill and were not interested in talking to him. They insisted on their own investigation and came up with a starting point for the fire on the southeast corner of the lot.
My conclusion is that the “nondescript” man started the fire on the north end of Falcon Drive, walked south and started the fire east of the “wall” and exited the forest. What more perfect day could he have to start a fire — record heat, extremely low humidity, only half of the normal precipitation, a private driveway with only five residences, a west wind and a quick exit out of the forest.
There is no doubt in my mind that the fire was human-caused and intentionally set. I only hope that someday his conscience will burn so hot that he will come forward to confess his dastardly deed.
