Fireworks are being blamed for several fires crews had to respond to Monday night, including one that led to temporary evacuations in an Aurora neighborhood.
South Metro Fire Rescue received calls about the brush fire off South Himalaya Street just after 7:30 p.m. Once on scene, crews found a fast-burning fire in an open space near homes. "It was roaring pretty quick. Flames were getting pretty high," said Carly Williams, who lives nearby. "You could even start to feel it almost. It was hot."
As flames raced across the neighboring open space, Williams found herself closer to danger than ever before. Minutes before, she saw the fire start, and then watched it grow rapidly in a matter of minutes.
"There was a firework that went over, hit, and ignited," Williams said.
Battling both fear and disbelief, Williams grabbed a few belongings and the neighbor's cat and evacuated. Living in suburban Aurora, it was a scenario she had never envisioned.
"Is it going to be stopped, am I going to have a house, are my neighbors going to have a house, what's going to happen with my stuff?" she remembered thinking at the time. "It reminded me of the Marshall Fire."While wind and dry conditions fueled the brush fire, investigators believe fireworks are the likely cause. Videos taken by South Metro Fire Rescue members also show the fireworks continued, even as firefighters fought to protect homes.
"We're trying to stop this fire and firefighters are watching fireworks go off all around them for literally hours," said Eric Hurst, Public Information Officer for the department. "If another fire starts and it starts to go out of control, we simply are running out of firefighters to deal with those problems, and unfortunately, the community members around there, many of them chose to be reckless and risk something else happening."On Tuesday, a slim patch of green grass showed Williams how close the worst-case scenario was. While thankful for fire crews, she remains baffled by the actions of others.
"I literally just almost lost my house and everything I have and you're still lighting off fireworks," Williams said. "You're getting enjoyment out of this, when I just had my night completely ruined."
South Metro Fire Rescue is currently working with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office on this investigation. They expect it to be difficult to narrow down any suspects due to the large number of people lighting off fireworks Monday night, but if they do, they could look into charges.