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December 11, 2013
75 cents | Volume 48, Issue 48 Tri-Lakes Region, Monument, Gleneagle, Black Forest and Northern El Paso County A publication of
tri-lakestribune.net
Black Forest Fire Rescue board to hire private investigator Board president Bracken fires back at Maketa for remarks he made last month By Danny Summers
dsummers@ourcoloradonews.com El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa may not have Bob Harvey’s back, but several folks on the Black Forest Fire Rescue board fully support their chief. “It is important to set the record straight,” Board President Eddie Bracken told The Tribune Wednesday. “There are a lot of rumors floating around and we want to get to the bottom of it.” The fiery Bracken is incensed, to say the
least, over the way the El Paso County Sheriff’s department is handling its investigation of the Black Forest Fire that broke out in June. The wild fire, the most destructive in Colorado history, killed two people and destroyed nearly 500 homes. “(Maketa) is controlling this investigation,” Bracken said. “There’s no dialogue between the sheriff’s office and our fire district concerning any investigation. (Harvey) should be made aware of anything going on with this investigation.” Bracken is not one to mince his words and appears to be right on with his assessment of the lack of communication between Maketa and Harvey. Sheriff’s department public information officer, Lt. Jeff Kramer, told The Tribune Wednesday that the sheriff’s depart-
ment will release all information pertinent to the investigation once it is completed. “We will continue to conduct our investigation as we have since the fire started,” Kramer said. “We’re the lead investigators on this and we will share our information at the appropriate time.” Led by Bracken, the board decided on Dec. 2 to hire its own private investigator to look into exactly what happened during the first few hours of the fire. Bracken said the search for a private investigator could take “two or three weeks.” Lawyers for the fire district are conducting the search for the private investigator. Things blew up on Nov. 25 when Maketa took aim at Harvey after Harvey told a local television news station that the June blaze was “probably” intentionally set.
The Tribune’s attempts to reach Harvey have been unsuccessful. In the statement to the press, Maketa said Harvey “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.” Bracken believes Maketa’s statement is far from the truth. “Our chief said it was intentionally set, but he did not say it was arson,” Bracken said with authority. “(Maketa) should substantiate what he said with facts and figures. “The sheriff’s department did a hatchet job three days before Thanksgiving and got Investigator continues on Page 14
HARVEY UNDER FIRE
Developer claims nearly 100,000 gallons minutes away By Danny Summers
Dsummers@ourcoloradonews.com Black Forest Fire Rescue chief Bob Harvey is under more scrutiny. This time from a land developer and El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn. And once again, Eddie Bracken is defending Harvey’s handling of the heated situation. On Dec. 3, land developer Dan Potter told KRDO News Channel 13 that water he had stored in three cisterns, or underground reservoirs, in Cathedral Pines could have been used to fight June’s massive blaze. According to Channel 13, Potter said he paid $500,000 to install the cisterns. Potter also said he was required to do so by Harvey to protect the subdivision’s 100 homes during a fire. Cathedral Pines is located in the northwest section of Black Forest. In addition, Potter said he spent $2 million in mitigation. “(The mitigation) is what saved Cathedral Pines,” said Bracken, president of the Black Forest Fire Rescue board. “There’s no way firefighters would have safely been able to reach those cisterns. “It was a firestorm by the time the blaze reached his development. There were 200foot walls of fire moving across the area less than an hour after the fire started. You had tankers dropping water from above and 35 to 40 mph winds. From a safety standpoint there was no way water was going to be used from those cisterns.” Only one of the 100 homes in the Cathedral Pines area was lost during the fire. The massive blaze claimed two lives and destroyed nearly 500 structures. “I don’t know why (Harvey) didn’t use (the cisterns) or pass the information onto other agencies,” Potter told Channel 13. “A couple of days after the fire I met a fire section commander out here. I asked how the cisterns worked; he didn’t even know the
POSTAL ADDRESS
Three ponds in Cathedral Pines were not used by fire trucks during the fire. This photo, taken a fews days after the fire, shows some charring on trees in the background but only one of the 100 homes in the Cathedral Pines area was lost during the fire. Photo by Rob Carrigan cisterns were here.” According to Bracken, Potter raised the cistern issue at a board meeting. Attempts by the Tribune to reach Potter were unsuccessful. Each cistern holds 30,000 gallons. The three ponds in Cathedral Pines also were not used by fire trucks during the fire. The ponds were used for helicopter basket drops. “Those cisterns are designed to protect one or two homes, not an entire forest,” Bracken said. Darryl Glenn, the El Paso County commissioner representing Black Forest, would like to know more about why the cisterns
were ignored. “We need an independent analysis of what occurred,” Glenn said. “Mr. Potter brought up a legitimate point. If the issue was raised that needs to be looked at. We need a definitive determination of what happened.” Harvey has been under much criticism lately by a number of folks. Among them is El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa and citizens in Black Forest that have taken up a petition asking for Harvey’s dismissal. “Obviously, these people have personal agendas,” said Bracken, who also believes Channel 13 has also viciously attacked Harvey. “Their agenda is to discredit the
districts that fought the fire. All of the districts responded to the fire at a very rapid pace. They came to each other’s assistance. “Chief Harvey did a lot of good work. Only God and Mother Nature had control of that fire, and man was an interested observer.” Bracken added that all of the finger pointing has put a wedge in the Black Forest community. “We’re trying to bring the community back together and heal it,” he said. “Second guessing is not helping.” The Tribune also tried contacting Chief Harvey for this story, but he did not return phone calls.
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