Northglenn family displaced by house fire blamed on girl
Northglenn – A house fire that started after an 11-year-old girl was playing with a lighter displaced a Northglenn family Sunday.
The fire ignited a shed and spread to the deck, then into the bi-level house. The living room, kitchen and dining room were damaged.
Two children – an 11-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy – were home alone at the time, neighbors and fire officials said.
The girl told investigators she was experimenting with paper and a lighter in the shed. She stomped on the fire and thought it was out when she left the shed.
“You could see little flames, and that fire was up in no time flat,” said neighbor Victor Garcia, who called 911 when he saw the fire in the back of the house. “It looked like an overheated barbecue or something, and then that thing was blazing.”
Garcia, who’s lived on the block for more than 30 years, said he saw the girl run to a neighbor’s house right before he called 911.
Wendy Krajewski of North Metro Fire Investigators said the children tried to put the fire out before going to the neighbor’s house. “Unfortunately, there was a significant delay,” she said. “They were trying to put it out themselves. … At one point, they hooked up a garden hose and tried to extinguish it.”
The family, whose names weren’t released by authorities, didn’t have renter’s insurance, Krajewski said.
Although the girl will not be charged with arson, she’ll go through the Juvenile Fire Setter Prevention Program and will receive professional counseling, Krajewski said.
Cops find man shot; wounds prove fatal
Police on Sunday were investigating the shooting death of a man in northeast Denver.
Officers were called to the area of East 33rd Avenue and Dahlia Street about 5 a.m. on a report of a shooting, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
When they arrived, police found a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The man died at a hospital about 8 a.m., Jackson said.
The man’s name was not released. Police had no immediate suspects, Jackson said.
Norton to decide who gets Colorado water
Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to announce today how much water seven Western states can draw from the Colorado River and its tributaries this year.
The issue Norton must decide centers on how many million acre-feet of water federal engineers will shift this summer from Lake Powell to Lake Mead, the two main reservoirs that control the flow on the Colorado.
A seven-state compact created in 1922 governs allocations of Colorado River flow. A year ago, federal officials told the seven states in the compact to work out a mutual agreement for water flows in 2005. With the governors still arguing last December, federal officials gave them a deadline of April 30 to settle on an annual operating plan. At a meeting in Las Vegas last week, the states conceded that they could not agree and handed the issue to Norton.
Deputies shoot, kill armed man at home
A Chaffee County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed an armed 60-year-old man outside Salida early Sunday after his wife called officers for a medical problem, authorities said Sunday.
A woman called dispatch at 4 a.m. and also told them her husband had armed himself, according to a release from the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department.
When two officers arrived at the house, “the man refused to put the gun down or comply with their commands,” the release stated.The man was shot and killed by the officers and pronounced dead at the scene.
No names were released, and no further details were available. The officers are on paid leave pending an investigation.
City considers layoffs, big cuts in services
City officials aren’t ruling out layoffs as a multimillion-dollar deficit looms.
The City Council also expects to make significant service cuts as the city deals with expenses that are outpacing revenues.
Projections show the city eating through $6.5 million in reserves in 2006. At the same time the general fund, which pays for basic services such as police and roads, would go $2.3 million into debt. The shortfall would grow an extra $12 million in 2007 and $12.8 million in 2008, according to projections.
Because the Fort Collins charter doesn’t allow the city to run a deficit, city officials will have to cut more than $25 million from the general fund in the next three years.
