Nov. 21--Black Forest Fire Chief Bob Harvey clammed up Thursday morning after remarks he made at a Black Forest Fire Department board meeting on Wednesday brought harsh criticism from El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa.
The fire, which started June 11 and destroyed 488 homes and killed two people, was determined to be human-caused in June. But sheriff's investigators said they had not determined whether it was accidental or intentional.
At a meeting Wednesday, Harvey said the fire "probably" was intentionally set, but did not divulge what led him to that conclusion, according to a KRDO TV report. As he walked into Centennial Hall shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday, he would not talk about the issue.
"I am not going to comment any more at this time," Harvey said before a Board of County Commissioners work session to discuss proposed changes to the fire code.
Maketa lambasted Harvey in a news release sent at 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
"His comments are nothing more than an attempt to mislead the public and a mere witch hunt," Maketa said in a statement. "Numerous national experts and federal resources have been involved in this investigation and have not and cannot substantiate Chief Harvey's unqualified knee jerk claims."
He criticized Harvey for talking about an investigation that he was not involved in, and accused him of mishandling the early response to what became the state's most destructive wildfire.
"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," Maketa said in the statement. "Furthermore, this Chief didn't even know homes were burning at a time several were engulfed and never even requested evacuations of nearby households as the fire rapidly grew out of control, clearly placing citizens' safety in jeopardy."
Commissioner Darryl Glenn said Thursday he was shocked when he heard about Harvey's comments. He said the first the commissioners heard of the fire possibly being set intentionally was Friday morning on the news report.
Glenn would not address Maketa's accusations that Harvey allowed the Black Forest fire to get out of hand. The commissioner did, however, say he understands the sheriff's frustration with Harvey announcing that the fire was set intentionally. Glenn said that all officials involved need to "get on the same page" before any such announcements are made.
"I am equally frustrated," Glenn said. "We have a responsibility to the public to provide accurate information. I've heard speculation (about the cause and manner) and that's the problem. We don't go off speculation. We've been waiting for the investigation to conclude."
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Gazette reporter Matt Steiner contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 - The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
