The Waldo Canyon fire was human caused but investigators don't know if it was intentional or accidental, officials said Wednesday at a brief news conference where little new information was revealed.
The announcement came after Colorado Springs Police Lt. Adrian Vasquez outlined all the fire and open burning bans that were in affect at the time the fire started. He said multiple agencies investigated reports of smoke on June 22, but found nothing before the search was called off because of darkness.
On June 23, the fire burst through the canyon, sending up an ominous plume of smoke that could be seen for miles.
Vasquez said investigators are asking anyone with information about who might have been in the canyon when the fire started to come forward.
The investigation into the cause of the 18,427-acre blaze that destroyed more than 340 homes and killed two people in Colorado Springs moved from the hills west of Colorado Springs to the laboratory in late July after an eight-agency team combed the spot where the fire began on June 23.
From soon after the fire started the indications have been that it was human caused. There was no lightning in the area around the time the fire was reported, and the Forest Service is quick to identify lightning as a cause, as it did with the High Park fire near Fort Collins.
On June 25, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office set up a tip line for people to call with information on the start of the fire. At a daily briefing a day later, the Forest Service urged anyone who was in Waldo Canyon or near Pyramid Mountain around the time the fire started to contact authorities.
Officials said Wednesday they have investigated 120 "high priority" tips and have 243 "low priority" tips to look into.
The new call Wednesday for information about activity in the canyon and the fire's origins comes nearly 12 weeks after the fire started.
The investigation has involved multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Colorado Springs police homicide detectives.
Steve Segin of the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center said last month that a complete report on the investigation will likely not be revealed Sept. 12 as the investigation is ongoing.
Lt. Jeff Kramer, with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, said the conference will discuss the fire, but he did not know if it will address the possible cause of the fire.
"It will discuss the Waldo Canyon fire, but to what level, I don't know," he said.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
