A 51-year-old man who was burning slash piles earlier in the week southwest of Fort Collins has been cited by Larimer County officials for accidentally igniting the Bobcat Ridge fire.
Officials said today that David McMurtrey of Loveland had a burn permit issued by the Rural Loveland Fire Protection District.
But investigators believe he did not fully comply with regulations in the permit. It states that anyone with a permit must ensure a burn is fully extinguished before leaving the scene.
Eloise Campanella, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said today that one of the slash piles on McMurtrey’s property was not completely extinguished and reignited in high winds.
Campanella said McMurtrey had spread dirt over the slash pile to extinguish it, but high winds blew the dirt off, reigniting the fire.
The fire was first reported about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday and was contained at about 5 p.m. Thursday.
The Sheriff’s Office has issued a summons to McMurtrey for “firing wood and prairie,” a Class 2 misdemeanor. It carries a potential penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
McMurtrey has been fully cooperative with investigators.
“He is a real nice guy and trying to help out as much as he can,” said Campanella. She added that McMurtrey lives in Loveland but has property where the slash pile ignited.
A slash pile is composed of trees or tree branches gathered from cleaning ditches or trimming trees, she said.
The fire was 4 miles west of Masonville, east of Spruce Mountain in mixture of national forest land, private land and the highly popular Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, owned by the city of Fort Collins.
On Thursday, 37 firefighters from Larimer County and Americorps were at the scene along with three engines. A few firefighters remained at the scene today to make sure no hot spots arise.
Campanella said that there are high winds in the area and that the grasses, shrubs and trees are drying out.
“It is going to be a bad fire season,” she said.
The city of Fort Collins had recently closed trails in much of the area to protect a pair of golden eagles trying to nest.
The eagles started building a nest on a hogback directly across the valley from the fire, said Rick Bachand, senior environmental planner with Fort Collins’ Natural Areas Program.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
