A wildland fire that swept through Ordway, burning homes in the town, forcing its evacuation and killing two firefighters, started as a “controlled burn” in a trash and hay pile, according to investigators.
The fire, which flamed up one week ago and burned about 8,900 acres, started at 14700 County Road F in Crowley County, according to investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
A second fire in the area, off County Road F and Lane 9, sparked the same day.
Both fires were the “result of controlled burns” that were “not completely extinguished” and took off in high winds and dry conditions.
More than two dozen buildings burned in and around Ordway and two volunteer firefighters, John Schwartz, 38, and Terry DeVore, 30, from nearby Olney Springs, died fighting the fire when a wooden bridge on Colorado 96 collapsed and their fire truck crashed into a ravine.
The Colorado State Patrol is investigating the fatal crash at the bridge.
“Although the fires were determined to be human-caused, no evidence of an intentional criminal act was observed,” the CBI concluded.
The fire destroyed eight homes in Ordway, 16 homes in Crowley County and 12 outbuildings. It forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 area residents.
Investigators say the Carbondale fire that consumed more than 1,000 acres last week also started with a controlled burn.
The fire started when the high winds “exposed the smoldering ambers below the surface of a controlled burn,” the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said. The embers spread and the winds fed the blaze.
Meanwhile investigators with the U.S. Army and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office have yet to release the cause and specific point of origin of a wildland fire on Fort Carson that burned over 9,000 acres.
The Fort Carson fire resulted in the death of a pilot fighting the wildland fire, which took off on the same day as the Ordway fire.
Gert Marais, 42, of Fort Benton, Mont., crashed his single-engine air tanker last Tuesday evening on his first slurry run of the day over Fort Carson.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Marais’ crash and death.
The Fort Carson fire, which startred in the Juniper Valley area, is 95 percent contained and firefighters hope to have it fully contained and declared out sometime tomorrow, said Dee McNutt, a Fort Carson Public Affairs spokeswoman.
A funeral for Marais, who was a native of South Africa and father of four, will be held Friday in Montana, McNutt said.
Marais, a pilot and mechanic, worked as a contractor for Aero Applicators Inc. of Sterling.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
