{"id":799581,"date":"2019-09-18T16:02:32","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T22:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=371708"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T22:02:32","slug":"usfs-special-agent-provides-look-inside-wildfire-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/usfs-special-agent-provides-look-inside-wildfire-investigations\/","title":{"rendered":"USFS Special Agent provides look inside wildfire investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

<\/p>

A fire retardant aircraft flies over the wildland fire in the Wildernest neighborhood Tuesday, June 12, near Silverthorne.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Firefighters and other emergency workers, along with residents and visitors to the county, have been enjoying a fire free season in Summit so far this year.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t too long ago that crews were lined up along firebreaks just outside Silverthorne to combat the Buffalo Mountain Fire<\/a>, hoping to stop the blaze before it burned its way through the Mesa Cortina and Wildernest neighborhoods. A year earlier in 2017, helicopters were flying over Breckenridge and dumping buckets of water to halt the advance of the Peak 2 Fire<\/a> as it made its way up the mountain.<\/p>\n

Thousands of structures were threatened, and relatively widespread evacuations were ordered in Silverthorne and Breckenridge as a result of the fires. But more than a year since the last flames were doused, officials still aren\u2019t sure how exactly the fires started, or by who.<\/p>\n

According to Bill Jackson, a district ranger with the Dillon Ranger District, both the Peak 2 Fire and the Buffalo Mountain Fire were likely human caused \u2014 as other possibilities such as lighting, machinery and electric lines were ruled out \u2014 though no parties have been found responsible for either.<\/p>\n

In October last year, the special agent investigating the Peak 2 Fire recommended the case be closed due to all investigative leads being exhausted, though it can be reopened if new leads emerge. The investigation is still open for the Buffalo Mountain Fire, though finding the individuals responsible for starting wildfires is often difficult, even with expert investigators, according to officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery fire is so unique that it\u2019s very common for us to determine the cause and the origin area, but it\u2019s more difficult to find that person responsible,\u201d said Special Agent Travis Lunders, an investigator with the U.S. Forest Service.<\/p>\n

Lunders said that local fire districts will call in the help of a forest service investigator anytime a fire is determined to be human caused, or when a cause can\u2019t be easily established. Once called into action, investigators begin tracking down leads even before the fire has been put out, searching for witnesses who may be able to help identify a suspect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of steps that can be taken, and a lot of the investigation that can be conducted even if the fire is still too hot and you can\u2019t get into the origin area,\u201d said Lunders. \u201cInvestigators responding to a fire will get things like weather information from dispatch, work with law enforcement to see if there are any witnesses in the area or anybody who called 911, and we\u2019ll start creating that call list of people we should reach out to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re fortunate enough to have the fire start near a large municipality there\u2019s things like traffic cameras and other things we can look at to determine who\u2019s coming and going at the time the fire was started. So there\u2019s a lot of work an investigator can do in preparing for the overall investigation while they\u2019re waiting for it to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the fire dies down, and its safe for an investigator to enter the area, the search for the fire\u2019s origin area begins. Lunders said the initial search is largely informed by recent weather patterns and the area\u2019s topography \u2014 fires typically burn uphill, though directions can change dramatically due to winds, or chutes and valleys in the topography that can influence its direction. With an understanding of recent weather, topography, and unique burn marks left as the fire burned through vegetation \u2014 supplemented with information from witnesses and first responders \u2014 investigators can determine the intensity and direction that a fire was burning, hopefully back to the point of origin.<\/p>\n

Once the general origin area has been determined, Lunders said the investigation begins to slow down as investigators try and work backwards to the point of ignition. Investigators will do a walk-around of the area looking for macro-indicators like burn patterns high in the surrounding trees to help narrow the scope of the search. Investigators will then turn to micro-indicators, such as small rocks that may be charred on one side and not the other, which may provide more insight into the ignition location.<\/p>\n

From there, investigators will begin a detailed search for the ignition source. Lunders said investigators will grid the area \u2014 sometimes quite large, or as small as a one foot by one foot square \u2014 and get down on their hands and knees to pick through debris looking for clues to how the fire started, what Lunders called the \u201cproverbial match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lunders said that when fires start they\u2019re typically not burning very hot \u2014 unless an accelerant was used \u2014 meaning when it moves out in one direction evidence can often be recovered.<\/p>\n

Investigators will look through debris with a magnifying glass for things like charred cigarette butts or matches, and use a large magnet to sift out any mechanical parts left behind from equipment or a vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really comes down to having that trained eye, and having an affinity for very detailed examinations of what\u2019s left behind,\u201d said Lunders. \u201cThere\u2019s no substitute for an experienced investigator who has that eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the labor-intensive work can be worthwhile. Lunders said identifying how a fire started can go a long way in finding a responsible party. For example, if the fire was determined to be ignited by a vehicle or a piece of equipment at the site, investigators can identify contractors who were working in the area or use traffic cameras to spot cars leaving the area when the fire started.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, but often times we\u2019re able to identify the origin area or the cause,\u201d said Lunders. \u201cFinding the person responsible is the real challenging part if we don\u2019t have equipment used, or we don\u2019t know who was in that particular area.\u201d<\/p>\n

But frequently the investigation relies on post-fire interviews with witnesses \u2014 often pulling in local law enforcement for assistance \u2014 to try and establish a firm timeline of the blaze, and try and identify potential suspects in the area at the time.<\/p>\n

Lunders said that each fire is unique, and leads investigators down different paths for investigations that can sometimes last years until there are no more leads to follow. He says that for investigators, any tip could potentially be the one that leads to the responsible party, and said residents in the area shouldn\u2019t be afraid to speak out if they\u2019re a witness to a wildfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forest is a huge area,\u201d said Lunders. \u201cAnd there\u2019s way more citizens that go out and recreate than we have. So I\u2019d encourage them, if they have information or if they see a person or a vehicle, to never discount that information. Law enforcement finds that useful, and they should report it. We rely on the citizenry to be our eyes and ears in a lot of cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fire retardant aircraft flies over the wildland fire in the Wildernest neighborhood Tuesday, June 12, near Silverthorne.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com Firefighters and other emergency workers, along with residents and visitors to the county, have been enjoying a fire free season in Summit so far this year. It wasn\u2019t too long ago that crews were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-799581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 06:47:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}