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.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=152730&catid=339

[groovedaddy]

1. No offense to the people who have an honest desire to protect, but this line of work draws

its share of pyromaniacs. This pops up in the news all too frequently.

[1monster]

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

I tend to think that if he were a pyromaniac, people would have noticed something long before this.

Having grown up in an all volunteer fire company town, I can tell you that volunteer fire companies tend to a very important social structure in the community. Membership in a voulunteer fire company tends to draw generation after generation of family members, while also drawing in new members all the time.

The volunteer firemen stay volunteer firemen long past the time they grow too old to risk sending out to do the actual fire fighting. When they can no longer fight the fires, they fund raise and educate the public about fire safety and take over the social planning duties that keeps the vounteer fire fighting community together.

George Fairer apparently made a mistake in believing that the fire was completely out. That was a serious mistake, but I don't think it makes him a pyromaniac. I'd need far more evidence before I'd even consider charging someone with that.

[backscatter712]

3. I don't think this particular guy was a pyromaniac or arsonist.

This looks to be an accident. Granted, most of the state of Colorado was dry as a bone, so building a campfire may not have been such a good idea...

[groovedaddy]

6. I stand corrected, in this case. But in Kentucky, it's still an too common occurence

that vol firefighters set fires.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. No, you are correct

They want someone to save, to be part of the moment.

However, 71 seems a bit old for that behavior. It usually manifests itself in the teens to 20's.

[uppityperson]

4. Looks like an accident and he tried to be safe. It is really too bad, bet he's griefstricken

[mike_c]

5. accident, not arson....

Of course, the bottom line is that in that environment anyone living in the woods needs to be even more careful and vigilant than ever-- the amount of mid-aged, standing fuel in those canyons is scary. Frankly, there should be a no fire, no anything that makes sparks policy and the inconvenience be damned.