Families Stunned by Most Destructive Wildfire in Colorado History

Written by Mason Anderson, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

Canon City, Colo., June 7, 2002 — When news of the Indian Mountain wildfire hit the airwaves, Nathan and Tina Cleveland abandoned their Deer Mountain home to help pick up the belongings of their neighbor, Jerry Luder. Just 15 minutes later in the predicted path of the fast-moving inferno the three stared in horror at what used to be a picturesque view of the Rocky Mountains. The fire had headed in a different direction than they expected.

Tina and Nathan Cleveland console each other at the site where their home once stood.

“The entire side of the mountain was on fire,” recalled Luder. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Then we realized that the fire wasn’t headed towards my house. It had shifted, and was now going straight for Nathan and Tina’s home.”

The Clevelands quickly dropped what they were doing and raced home. But by the time they arrived, only minutes later, the wildfire was burning just a half mile from their home.

“At that point, we just got in the car and got out of there,” said Tina. “We didn’t have time to get anything out. We had heard the Red Cross set up a shelter at the Deer Mountain Fire Department so we went there first, but then the fire shifted again and headed towards the shelter. We couldn’t get away from it.”

The shelter was moved further away from the flames and smoke to the Cotapaxi High School, where the Clevelands and hundreds of other evacuated residents finally found safety.

“The Red Cross was wonderful,” said Tina. “They gave us food and water right away, and had cots set up for people to sleep if they had nowhere to go.”

The stove is the only indicator that a kitchen once stood on the scorched ground.

The next day, Nathan and Tina Cleveland returned to the site where their house once stood.

“The fire was headed straight for our house, so we knew there would be some damage, we just didn’t know it would be this bad,” Tina recalled. “There is no trace of anything — you can’t even tell a home was here.”

The couple’s two children were out of the area on Sunday so their parents knew they were safe. However, their two pets, a cocker-spaniel dog and a cat, were killed in the fire, and nothing but ash is left of their belongings.

“My kids won’t come up here to see it, and we don’t want them to. There’s just nothing left,” Cleveland said.

Unwilling to risk another disaster, the Clevelands have decided to move out of the Deer Mountain community.

”Everyone’s saying that the fires are going to get worse because everything’s so dry. This time, we all survived, but it could be so much worse. That’s not a risk I’m going to take.”

Unpredictable, Fast-Moving Blaze Scorched 200 Structures

Two words describe the Indian Mountain fire that raged near Canon City Colo.: unpredictable and fast. Long-time Deer Mountain resident Don Daras witnessed development and movement of the fire and was stunned by the blaze’s fury.

The fire rapidly tore over mountain tops and through canyons.

“I’ve seen three wildfires in my life, and I even lost a home in one, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Daras. “The fire came over the top of the mountain and it looked like a waterfall of fire. Then I saw how it was moving. It kept jumping from tree to tree, across roads, everywhere. The wind was blowing pretty steadily, and every time it blew the fire shifted direction so it was hard to contain. I joined a crew of residents who were trying to stop it because the firefighters had their hands full, and we managed to save some houses, but a lot were destroyed.”

The destruction was sporadic, though, in the scorched 4,000-acre region.

”The flames would reach a house, but then the wind would move it incredibly quickly in another direction. I found one home completely destroyed, but a shed about two feet away from it was perfectly fine,” Daras described.

On Tuesday evening, a heavy downpour of rain stopped the progress of the flames and allowed firefighters to increase containment from 20 to 85 percent.

Nevertheless, by the time the rains began, more than 200 structures, including at least 83 homes, had been completely charred by the blaze, making the Indian Mountain fire the most destructive in Colorado’s history.

Although the flames did not reach this home, the heat from the inferno melted the exterior.

Miraculously, no deaths were reported and only three firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Fire officials believe the fire was ignited by a charcoal grill left unattended and blown over by the wind, quickly lighting the terrain.

“Everything is so dry, that even when you see a green pine tree, if you knock a branch all the needles fall off,” said Daras. “The next few months are going to be even hotter, and with the land so dry everyone’s saying it could happen again. After all, it only takes a small spark and a gust of wind. It’s going to be a long summer here, I’m afraid.”