NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann, is overcome with emotion as she tries to find remnants such as a collar or tag of her St. Bernard Geno where she thought he might have been in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Insurance adjuster Pablo Jimenez, of Liberty Mutual Insurance, looks over what remains of the Schmidtmann home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann tries to find remnants such as a collar or tag of her St. Bernard Geno where she thought he might have been in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann looks at necklace that had been inside of a fireproof safe, in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Charlie Schmidtmann, right, works with insurance adjustor Pablo Jimenez, of Liberty Mutual Insurance, as the two look over what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The two are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: A burned 2001 Porsche 996 c4, right, and a 1974 Ford Bronco, left, two of the many destroyed vehicles on the property, are a complete loss at the Schmidtmann home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Charlie Schmidtmann, left, works with insurance adjuster Pablo Jimenez, of Liberty Mutual Insurance, as the two look over what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The two are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Charlie Schmidtmann looks at what remains of his Mercedes-Benz Unimog on his property on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. Schmidtmann is wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Insurance adjuster Pablo Jimenez, of Liberty Mutual Insurance, looks over what remains of the Schmidtmann home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: A burned truck, one of many destroyed vehicles on the property, is a complete loss at the Schmidtmann home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The two are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighters Bretlyn Schmidtmann, left, Patrick Richardson, middle, and Charlie Schmidtmann, right look over what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. The Schmidtmanns lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The three are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann, walks through the burned forest on her property on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. She is wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: A burned 2001 Porsche 996 c4, left, and a 1974 Ford Bronco, right, two of the many destroyed vehicles on the property, are a complete loss at the Schmidtmann home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighters Patrick Richardson, left, and Charlie Schmidtmann, right walk through what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The two are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighters Patrick Richardson, left, and Charlie Schmidtmann, right remove a fire proof safe from what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. The two are wearing wildland firefighting personal protective gear because the fire is still an active fire and the house is still smoldering from the fire. Most of the contents of the safe were completely burned. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Charlie Schmidtmann takes a break while looking at what remains of his house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighters Charlie Schmidtmann, left, and Patrick Richardson, right, find fragments of personal effects in a fireproof safe in what remains of Charlie's house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Insurance adjustor Pablo Jimenez, of Liberty Mutual Insurance, takes measurments as he tallies property damage of what remains of the Schmidtmann's home on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie Schmidtmann and his wife Bretlyn, both firefighters with the Nederland Fire Department, lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann looks at two rings that had been inside of a fireproof safe, in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Charlie and his wife Bretlyn lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann, tries to find remnants, such as a collar or tag, of her St. Bernard Geno where she thought he might have been in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann, is overcome with emotion as she tries to find remnants, such as a collar or tag, of her St. Bernard Geno where she thought he might have been in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
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NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 12: Nederland firefighter Bretlyn Schmidtmann, is overcome with emotion as she tries to find remnants such as a collar or tag of her St. Bernard Geno where she thought he might have been in the remains of her house on July 12, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost everything in the Cold Springs Fire including their beloved St. Bernard Geno. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the couple as they begin to rebuild their lives. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
NEDERLAND — Among the first — if not the first — of the five homes to be destroyed in the Cold Springs fire near Nederland belonged to a married couple who serve on the town’s fire department.
Capt. Charlie Schmidtmann said he was responding to a car crash when word came over the radio that a fire was burning northeast of town. It wasn’t until about 5 p.m. Saturday, , that he came across his house to realize it had been destroyed.
One of he and his wife’s dogs — Clyde, a Labrador-husky mix — was found about a quarter-mile from the smoldering ruins. The pair aren’t sure how he got out of the house unscathed.
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
NEDERLAND, CO - JULY 11: Nederland firefighter and resident Bretyln Schmidtmann holds her dog Clyde after a community briefing at the Nederland High School on July 11, 2016 in Nederland, Colorado. Bretlyn and her husband Charlie lost their home and possibly their second dog Geno in the Cold Springs Fire. Clyde somehow escaped the house and survived before the house burned to the ground. Charlie found the dog walking in the woods.(Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Clyde survived after owners home burned down. Another dog if there's is missing. They have no idea how he survived
— Jesse Aaron Paul ☀ (@JesseAPaul)
Their other dog, a St. Bernard, has not been found.
“It’s impressive,” Schmidtmann, dressed in wildland fighting gear, said Monday of the fire’s destruction. “I had just bought a motorcycle and you can’t believe these things were what they were.”
The couple had lived in the house for five years.
Schmidtmann is still battling the 600-plus acre blaze, which was on Monday afternoon. He was planning to return to the fire line Monday night.
Schmidtmann said he has visited the campsite on private property where two transient men from Alabama are suspected of improperly putting out a campfire that ignited the blaze. He said there was toilet paper near the campfire ring.
“When you burn down a community, that’s a big deal to us,” he said, explaining that Nederland’s transient population in the surrounding land poses a big wildfire risk. “If they made an attempt (to put out the campfire), it wasn’t a very significant attempt in my eyes.”
