The cause of the brush fire that burned more than 130 acres along Highway 85 near Louviers on July 13 – being called the “Airport Fire” – has been determined to have been caused by activity associated with a passing train.
Via a social media post, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office made an announcement on July 16 that investigators with the South Metro Fire Rescue Fire Marshall’s Office identified ignition indicators along train tracks.
The post states that investigators have video evidence along the rail line “consistent with passing train operations,” and that “no other ignition sources were found in the area, and the area of the origin aligned with the train’s path at the time of the fire.”
Brush crews with South Metro Fire Rescue first responded to multiple vegetation fires near Highway 85 just after 2 p.m. on July 13. According to South Metro Fire Chief John Curtis, crews responded to the area of Highlands Ranch Parkway and Highway 85, along Titan Court and the southern corridor along Santa Fe that extends towards Louviers.
“During that time, Douglas County air resources were launched on the initial call and helped visualize some of the southernmost spot fires that were immediately identified,” Curtis said during a press conference on July 14.
Shortly after the initial call, the fire had been upgraded to a 2nd Alarm Wildland Urban Interface fire with multiple fires along the train tracks which were spreading into open space, with one structure threatened.
Due to the fire’s close proximity to homes in Louivers, evacuations were issued for the town, east of Waterton Road. A shelter was established at the Douglas County Fairgrounds for the nearly 40 homes that were evacuated, according to Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.
Those evacuation orders were lifted at about 7:30 p.m. on July 13.
During the July 14 press conference, Curtis stated that there were no reports concerning structural damage or injuries to community members or first responders.
Counting both on-ground and in-the-air responders, more than 140 personnel were on the scene, said Weekly. This included the Douglas County Helitack team, South Metro Fire Rescue, West Metro Fire Rescue, Castle Rock Fire, Franktown Fire, West Douglas Fire and others.
In addition to multiple dozers in the area creating fire lines, two helicopters assisted in dropping water.
The Douglas County Helitack team was in the air within 10 minutes of the fire breaking out and was able to make 300-gallon water drops about every five minutes.
On July 13, the Douglas County helicopter dropped about 260,400 gallons of water, Weekly said.
“Had we not had that fire Helitack team in the air within 10 minutes, this fire would have been far worse than it was,” Weekly said.
By mid-morning on July 14, the fire was 90% contained and as of 2:15 p.m. on July 16, the sheriff’s office said fire crews are continuing to make progress in fully containing the fire.