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Report: Colorado blaze started near hiking trail

The Associated Press
Aspen, CO Colorado

DENVER – Dispatch recordings show that Colorado’s deadly Waldo Canyon wildfire appeared to have started near a popular hiking trail west of Colorado Springs.

They indicate that firefighters searched the Waldo Canyon trail on the evening of June 22 and morning of June 23 trying to find the source of smoke, The Denver Post ( http://bit.ly/RqTtsM ) reported Friday. The source was not found because wind dispersed the smoke.

The National Weather Service in Pueblo said there were no thunderstorms there on June 22 or 23. The fire exploded on June 23, the same day that dispatch recordings showed at least two firefighters said the flames apparently started in the area they had searched.



“This is the same place we had a fire last night,” an unidentified firefighter from the Cascade Volunteer Fire Department said. “It is on a ridge trail.”

Another firefighter said he and another hiked the area on the morning of June 23 looking for the source of smoke.




“We hiked around there for quite a while,” that firefighter said. “There was nothing at that time. But it looks like it was there.”

The fire went on to kill two people and destroy nearly 350 homes after it moved into Colorado Springs.

Authorities say they’ve pinpointed the fire’s origin but haven’t released details. Investigators have asked people who were in the Waldo Canyon area on June 22 and June 23 to contact them with any help for their probe into the cause.

The fire was 95 percent contained. Fire managers expected to have it fully contained by the end of Friday.