FORT CARSON — The flames came so close that it felt like a furnace had engulfed the country home of Wayne and Judy Neveu on Colorado 115 next to the Army base as they were evacuating Tuesday night.
“We lucked out,” Wayne Neveu said just after he and about 800 evacuees were allowed to return home Wednesday afternoon. “When we left, that whole mountain was just blazing.”
A heavy snow starting falling Wednesday afternoon, giving firefighters hope that the 9,000-acre fire would be 100 percent under control by this morning. Crews were planning to work into the evening putting out hot spots, then officials were going to assess the situation this morning.
“This is just what we needed,” El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said of the snow at a 5 p.m. news conference outside Fort Carson. “We are very lucky no one lost any homes.”
The blaze, however, did claim the life of a pilot contracted by the U.S. Forest Service. Gert Marais, 42, of Fort Benton, Mont., crashed his single-engine air tanker Tuesday evening. Marais crashed on his first slurry run of the day — and a makeshift memorial came together near where his plane went down.
Officials did not know what caused the Air Tractor 602 to crash, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Marais worked for Aero Applicators Inc. of Sterling. He had both a transport and commercial pilot license, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. He also was a licensed aircraft mechanic and had updated his medical certificate in 2007.
“We lost a fellow firefighter, and that is a great loss to us,” said Jim Reid, El Paso County Emergency Services Division commander. “Winds were high, but pilots make their own decisions about whether to fly.”
Authorities said it could be several weeks before the cause of the Fort Carson fire is known. Several residents in the area said they thought they saw a controlled burn earlier.
“You should have seen it Monday night. It was huge,” said Noni Peterson, one of about a dozen area residents waiting along Colorado 115 to return to their homes.
She said the fire was south of the Iraqi Village section, where soldiers train.
Jake Jacob, deputy director of emergency services with Fort Carson, said there wasn’t a controlled burn at the base, although soldiers had been training in the area near the fire.
As many as 300 firefighters had battled the blaze, which broke out Tuesday in the Juniper Valley area along Colorado 115.
Maketa said about 75 people were evacuated from homes in and around the Turkey Canyon Ranch area Tuesday but that everyone was allowed back about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The weary residents were ecstatic to get the news that they could return home. Some had stayed overnight at shelters at the base or at Pikes Peak Community College.
Cheryl and Curtis Ingham, who live in the Red Rock Valley area, were at work when they got the news Tuesday that they would not be able to return home.
So they waited it out as their two Doberman pinschers, four indoor cats and three outdoor cats were home alone. When they came home Wednesday, the two dogs had helped themselves to a loaf of bread on the counter but were otherwise fine. But the three feral cats were nowhere to be found.
“I was certainly expecting a lot worse,” Curtis Ingham said. “I thought we would be coming back to charred remains. I am just delighted the area is secure.”
