A Colorado fire chief blasted for making claims about how the Black Forest wildfire started is now accused of letting the fire get out of hand in the first place.
A petition is now circulating calling for his resignation.
Last summer’s Black Forest fire burned more than 14,000 acres, destroyed 500 homes and resulted in two deaths. It cost more than $85 million and is considered one of the most destructive wildfires in state history.
Last week, Fire Chief Bob Harvey told the media the fire was set intentionally and that the arsonist was still on the loose.
El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, who took over the fire investigation, immediately slammed the comments as “reckless,” claiming in a press release that Harvey isn’t part of the investigation and has no basis to make the claim.
Moreover, he claimed Harvey may be trying to cover up his own handling of the fire.
“[T]his Chief is not involved in the investigation nor qualified to offer legal and scientific evidence,” Maketa wrote. “He does not know the point of origin and has been less than truthful about other circumstances with this disaster and just may be merely covering his own mishandling of this event in an attempt to avoid responsibility for allowing the fire to get out of hand.”
An investigation into Harvey’s actions by a Colorado Springs TV station also raised questions about the chief’s actions, particularly why he didn’t abdicate command of the fire to the sheriff’s office earlier. Wildfires are passed up the jurisdictional chain from the local fire protection district to the county sheriff and then to the state. Each level opens up more resources to fight the fire, KRDO reported.
Harvey told Maketa “we got this” when Maketa asked if he wanted the sheriff’s office to take over, the station reported.
“It was clear to me he underestimated,” Maketa told KRDO. “He did not realize how fast the fire had moved. He didn’t realize it was up in the trees. He didn’t realize homes were burning, and that is certainly an indication of when the fire should be passed on.”
Now citizens have added their voices to the growing criticism, circulating a petition to the Black Forest Fire Rescue District Board to have the chief removed.
“Considering the destruction and devastation this community has faced, we do not need an individual that has clearly demonstrated incompetence, arrogance, lack of integrity and ego to be the leader, or manager, of our Fire Rescue Department,” the petition reads.
Many of those who’ve signed the petition lost everything in the fire.
“He had dropped the ball and because of his arrogance, he allowed this to happen,” Alan Havens, who lost his home, told the station about why he signed.
Darrell Fortner also lost his home and his pets. He wants more than for Harvey to lose his job.
“I could have put a black eye on him and pull[ed] the badge off of his chest,” he said.
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