Teller County wildfire arsonist sought

Teller County investigators are looking into the possibility of a serial arsonist at work.

Local and federal firefighters, along with the Teller County Sheriff’s Office, responded to seven fires over the span of about two hours Wednesday.

Sheriff Mike Ensminger said the fires stretched across several neighborhoods off Highway 24 near Divide.

He identified Cedar Mountain Road, the Aspen Village area, Aspen Hills, the Catamount area, Rosewood Hills, the Holiday Hills area and Twin Rocks Road toward the Fossil Beds as targets.

The sheriff said a trail winds through that entire area. The sheriff said the person or people responsible may have used that trail and ATVs to set so many fires so quickly.

“It’s very concerning considering what they’re dealing with in Park County and what’s happening in Northern Colorado. We certainly don’t want to have a repeat in Teller County,” said Ensminger, referencing the Springer Fire, High Park and extremely dry conditions.

Neighbors played a big part in keeping these Teller County fires small.

“Without the heightened alert of our citizens, we wouldn’t have been been able to get on these fires as fast as we did and get them extinguished before they were able to get very far,” said Ensminger.

None of those fires was bigger than a quarter-acre.

The sheriff wanted to assure residents that resources are still in place to fight a wildfire despite several fires across the state. He said the county has a special task force ready to jump on a wildfire quickly to try to keep it from spreading quickly. Residents have also shown a willingness to help.

“We have citizens here that are on a heightened state of alert. We have citizens assisting putting fire outs, so when we get there, these are relatively small fires because of what our citizens have been doing,” said Ensminger.

If you see something suspicious in your neighborhood, call 911.