Six Arson Brush Fires Started Near Downtown, No Suspect

COLORADO SPRINGS – Police are looking for who is responsible for starting six separate arson brush fires near the downtown area Thursday night.

Officers were initially dispatched to the area of W Uintah and Caldera Dr to assist the Colorado Springs Fire Department with traffic control on a grass fire around 8:30 p.m. As the fire department was on scene handling the initial fire they observed several other fires ignite in the open space south of Unitah and north of Manitou Blvd near a Colorado Springs Utilities water tank. The police department established a unified command with the fire department and numerous officers were deployed around the open space in an attempt to locate thesuspect(s) that started the fires. No one was located. An investigation for 4th Degree Arson was initiated by CSPD and will be forwarded to the Fire Department for investigation.

The largest fire was one acre.Investigators are trying to figure out who started the fires. No homes were burned. No injuries occurred at this scene and all the damage was limited to the grassy areas.

A total of 6 engines and 4 brush trucks responded with 24 firefighters and were able to get all the fires under control within 1 hour.This set of fires were challenging to the firefighters due to the terrain and the inability to gain direct access to the area even with four wheel drive brush trucks.