On June 4 at about 8:30 p.m., the Guffey-based Southern Park County Fire Protection District responded to its first wildfire of the season, at 272 Twinkle Road, off of Doe Valley Road northeast of Guffey.
The homeowner, Daniel Brown, had returned home about 6:30 p.m., according to Fire Chief Gene Stanley. Sometime later, Brown noticed a flickering on one of his windows. On looking outside he saw flames and a fire "about the size of a sheet of plywood," Brown said.
The Southern Park County Fire Protection District, or SPCFPD, was paged out at 8:36 p.m, and responded with 12 firefighters, two type 6 engines, and a water tender.
Mutual aid was called for, and the Florissant-based Four Mile Fire Protection District responded with four firefighters, one type 6 engine, and a command vehicle.
SPCFPD was on scene until 2:45 a.m. Saturday morning. Mop-up operations continued most of the day Saturday and part of Sunday afternoon, as well.
According to Stanley, who is a federally certified fire investigator and fire investigator for the Park County Sheriff's Office, the fire started about 40 feet east of the house and was approximately an acre in size. The fire was burning in grass and pine trees and crept back to the house and got under the open deck, but the structure was saved with little damage.
According to Stanley, much of the evidence as to the cause of the fire was destroyed in the suppression of the fire, but it did look suspicious.
When Stanley returned to the scene on Saturday, he could not find the exact point of origin of the fire, but from the char pattern, he determined that the fire originated within a 12-foot circle and within that 12-foot circle there was a cigarette butt that could have started the fire.
The Park County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation.
Stanley expressed thanks to Four Mile Fire for their help.
Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore said a six-acre wildfire near Guffey was contained in the afternoon on June 8.
Fire crews from the Guffey-based Southern Park County Fire Protection District had help from a Teller County fire crew from the Florissant-based Fourmile Fire Protection Distrct and a hand crew from the Platte Canyon Fire Protection District.
Gore said no structures were damaged by the fire.
The fire was a re-ignition of the Twinkle Lane fire from June 4 that crept across a fire barrier into new grass.
Note: Writer Flip Boettcher is on the board of directors of the Southern Park County Fire Protection District.