The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has reviewed the executive summary containing the findings of the independent investigator that the Black Forest Fire District Board hired in December 2013 to determine if Black Forest Fire Chief Harvey mismanaged the Black Forest Fire during its early stages. The summary is general in nature and omits many specific times of significant actions and events. The decision to launch such an inquiry rests with the Board and the results are an internal matter surrounding an employee of the Black Forest Fire Department. It is not necessary for the Sheriff’s Office to comment on any employee related decisions the Board may or may not make as a result of the inquiry.
The Sheriff’s Office would be remise however to not address several inaccuracies in this report concerning actual timelines for specific actions and events that took place during the first few hours of the fire on June 11, 2013. A full timeline including radio transmissions was posted on the Sheriff’s Office web site within the first few months of the fire. Today, the Sheriff’s Office has now posted a copy of the Black Forest Fire Board Executive Summary of this investigation and excerpts from this summary in contrast with actual radio transmissions and dispatch timelines that refute the accuracy of this report. Furthermore, the investigator states that Assistant Fire Marshal Scott Campbell declined to interview with the investigator however email documents between Sheriff Maketa and the investigator reveal the Sheriff requested questions from the investigator that Mr. Campbell could answer and those questions were never received. This is another example of the inaccuracies reported by this investigator.
To address the question as to why Sheriff Maketa made such allegations about Chief Harvey’s performance of duty was in direct response to Chief Harvey’s interference with an official investigation into the cause and origin of this fire by his inappropriate and irresponsible statement that the fire was most likely deliberately or intentionally started without any evidence or facts to substantiate such a statement and is another glaring example of his irresponsible actions.
To any extent the Board’s internal investigation deviates from its original intent and speaks to the fire investigation on topics like cause or origin, Sheriff Terry Maketa reminds members of the community his Office is conducting the official investigation. Once all scientific analysis of items of evidence is complete, and all investigative efforts have been concluded, the Sheriff’s Office will eagerly provide information to the public. The information released by the Sheriff’s Office will be grounded by facts and evidence and will withstand the scrutiny of the court if necessary.
It is unfortunate that this report contains many opinions and general information not based on facts that can be substantiated by actual evidence such as radio transmissions and recorded phone calls. Therefore, it is important that the public has the opportunity to review the report and actual evidence so they can form their own conclusions and may refer to El Paso County Sheriff’s Office website at http://bit.ly/1oTDYLK to review all of this information.
Note: The actual radio transmissions or recorded phone calls have been included in the table and can be heard by selecting the sound icon next to the entry. Some transmissions include more conversation than the text field indicates, as we have reduced the table to the most relevant points. Red text has been used to further emphasize points of fire movement, damage to homes, and changes in Incident Command. If you experience problems with the same audio playing under each entry, it’s likely a problem with your internet browser, especially when using Internet Explorer 9; consider using a different browser. A “mouse-over” feature has been added to the table. If you use your mouse to position your cursor over a call sign listed in the “unit” field, the person or agency information will be shown. For example, if you position your cursor over “3001”, you will learn the 3001 call sign is assigned to El Paso County Assistant Fire Marshal Scott Campbell. The “mouse over” will not operate on a smart phone or tablet device.
Note: The executive summary describes the fire as a “low crawling” fire as late as 2:10 p.m. However, based on observations made by responding firefighters well before that time, the fire was large enough to prompt them to check for air resources. Furthermore, different citizens called 9-1-1 reporting seeing flames in the trees at approximately 1:54 p.m.
Newly obtained pictures show the fire out of control at 2:21 p.m., only eleven minutes after the initial attack and response to what had been a low crawling fire. Fire personnel that had been assigned off of Darr Road for approximately 20 minutes were then forced to evacuate due to intense fire and smoke reportedly so thick they could not see the front of the hood of their truck. CS engine 9 had to retreat three different times. Incident Commander Harvey could not have safely placed any additional fire fighters in front of this wall of fire, and his actions in assessing the fire conditions, along with the safety of first responders, were found to be exemplary. (By contrast: three weeks after, 19 fire fighters would be killed in Yarnell Arizona due to a fire that quickly became out of control and trapped them). The fuel load of Black Forest was much denser. As the fire fighters and the smoke alerted neighbors, those trying to evacuate were caught in traffic jams, especially near the intersection of Darr and Peregrine. Moreover, the visibility was extremely poor due to the intensity of the fire.
Note: Information in the table below is gathered through time stamped recordings and logs from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center.
At approximately 3:00 to 3:15 p.m., command personnel, including Chief Harvey, El Paso County assistant fire marshal Scott Campbell, and a representative from the Colorado Division of Prevention and Fire Control, Brenda Wasielewski, discussed the conditions and overabundance of fuels, the weather, lack of air support, that fire fighter personnel were struggling to hold the fire and the probability that they would not be able to hold the fire. Around that time, a mandatory evacuation from Falcon to Milam, and Shoup to an area on the north side was requested by Deputy Fire Marshal Campbell. The fire had turned into a raging firestorm within 25 minutes, putting command staff in a near impossible situation. It should be noted that the Colorado Springs Fire Department requested a reverse 911 to evacuate residents around 2:20 p.m.
Note: Information in the table below is gathered through time stamped recordings and logs from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center.
Subsequently, the command of the fire was turned over to the County and then turned over to the State in rapid sequence. The State in turn named Scott Campbell as Type 3 Incident Commander. In that capacity, Mr. Campbell worked for the State and not the County. He served in that capacity until the Federal Government designated Rich Harvey as the Type 1 Incident Commander. The timeline of this passing of Command has been a major source of friction with this fire, fanned by incomplete reports from other agencies and the media. According to the various interviews and sources of information obtained in the investigation, verbal exchange of command likely occurred between 3:45 and 3:55 p.m. There are a series of supporting documents that were obtained and radio traffic, timeline notes, and personal interviews were used to confirm the times. For example, the 3:55 p.m. time came from an interview with Sheriff Maketa, which was later confirmed by El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Bureau Chief, Al Harmon. This was a verbal transfer. The 3:15 p.m. time of transfer that was reported initially as the transfer time by Chief Harvey was likely the time he had a discussion with Ms. Wasielewski about transferring the fire to El Paso County, who subsequently transferred it to the State of Colorado to obtain State resources. Chief Harvey stated that he wanted to turn this fire over quickly to access State funds so as not to jeopardize the financial assets of the District. Documents obtained during the investigation show that Scott Campbell, as the representative for the County and the Incident Commander replacing Chief Harvey, signed a document to transfer command to Campbell at 4:08 p.m. and that a meeting was held sometime around 4:30. The reported 8:23 p.m. Delegation of Authority is the time of the last necessary signature from a necessary public official on the formal documents transferring control. This document was an after-the-fact confirmation of the verbal transfer that had happened hours before.
Note: Information in the table below is gathered through time stamped recordings and logs from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center.