BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Two Alabamians are being charged with felony arson after failing to properly extinguish a small campfire that ultimately burned hundreds of acres of Colorado forrest to the ground.
Jimmy Andrew Suggs, 28, and Zackary Ryan Kuykendall, 26, of Vinemont, Ala., reportedly started a small campfire on private property Saturday night. By the time they awoke Sunday morning, the fire had gotten out of control and was already threatening to engulf several hundred homes in the area.
“The men did not ensure that the fire was properly extinguished by dousing it with water, or making sure the ashes were cool to the touch before leaving the site,” an official with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office told a local ABC affiliate.
At least six buildings have already burned to the ground — including three houses — and almost 2,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.
About 250 firefighters are currently working around the clock to protect the other homes that could find themselves in the fire’s path, depending on how the wind shifts. Helicopters are scooping water out of a local reservoir in giant buckets and shuttling it to the raging fire.
Firefighters making their plan of attack. @DenverChannel #fire #wildfire We're at the command center. pic.twitter.com/ft5xRqeLPl
— Kyle Horan Denver7 (@KyleHoranNews) July 10, 2016
Many evacuated families are being housed at a local Red Cross facility and the final week of summer school has been cancelled for local public schools students. There are also numerous roads closed for fear that the fire department may accidentally dump buckets of water on them as cars passed by.
The two Alabamians are being charged with fourth-degree arson, a felony, because their actions put lives in danger. A third Alabamian — a female — is not being charged because she did not have any role in starting or maintaining the fire.
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