Man who started Fourmile Canyon Fire was volunteer firefighter

[The Straight Story]

Man who started Fourmile Canyon Fire was volunteer firefighter

BOULDER - 9Wants to Know has learned a volunteer firefighter who lost his home to the Fourmile Canyon Fire is the person responsible for starting it.
- Current list of structures involved
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Earlier on Monday, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office confirmed the fire, which destroyed 159 homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of people, started in a fire pit.

9Wants to Know confirms that fire pit belongs to a 20-year volunteer with the Four Mile Fire Department, according to that fire department's chief. It is an all-volunteer fire department.

The man, George Fairer, is 71 years old and his house was built in 1996.

After the fire began, Fairer fought the fire in the hills above Boulder for the next eight hours, but lost his home to the blaze.

The fire started just after 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 6 when the Boulder County Sheriff's Office says embers from a fire pit in the 7100 block of Fourmile Canyon Drive sparked the blaze. The fire got out of control and winds spread it an estimated 6,400 acres. About 3,000 people evacuated ahead of the flames and it destroyed 159 homes.

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office says the last fire in the fire pit was several days before the wildfire started. Investigators say the property owner had tried to extinguish the fire pit by dousing it with water and stirring the ashes. Investigators think the wind reignited the embers on Sept. 6 and blew them out of the fire pit.

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