GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cheney said it may take two more weeks before he decides if he will file charges in the wildfire that scorched 1,000 acres near Carbondale last month.
Cheney said he has read a report by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the criminal investigation of the fire. But he is also reading a set of reports prepared by the Carbondale Rural Fire Protection District, which handled the blaze.
“It’s just not something that I rush,” Cheney said. “It’s not as cut-and-dried as I thought.”
Authorities believe a property owner’s fire accidentally spread, pushed by winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour. Only four homes were damaged, but more than 100 homes were threatened and hundreds of residents were evacuated. More than 150 firefighters and other personnel from some 47 different agencies responded to the County Road 100 fire. Only one person was injured: a fisherman who escaped the fire by ducking under water.
Even assuming the fire was started accidentally, Cheney said, authorities could pursue criminal charges if they find the person who started it was not just negligent but reckless.
The decision will probably be “splitting the hair between whether this is negligent or if it was criminal,” Cheney said.
If it is found to be simply negligent, he said, neighbors who suffered damage could still pursue the case in civil court.
Cheney said Carbondale Fire Chief Ron Leach contacted him last Friday and alerted him to the existence of other files he hadn’t seen.
“Obviously we won’t want to make a decision when we know there are several other reports out there our office hasn’t seen,” he said.
Cheney said he may also want to interview more witnesses.
dfrey@aspendailynews.com
