BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The first call reporting flames related to the devastating Marshall Fire came into Boulder County’s dispatch center at 11:05 a.m. on Dec. 30. The caller reported an issue near South Foothills Highway and Marshall Road.
The first crew to respond came from Mountain View Fire Rescue.
A records technician would not tell the Problem Solvers, due to the ongoing investigation, what specifically the caller reported to be on fire initially.
However, multiple people took video of burning grass and a blazing shed on a property in the 5300 block of Eldorado Springs Drive before any homes were engulfed.
The property is affiliated with a religious group called Twelve Tribes. The sheriff confirmed the group is part of his investigation into the cause of the fire.
The Problem Solvers contacted the toll-free number for Twelve Tribes, and an unidentified man, based in New England, answered the call.
When asked whether any of the people who were on the Boulder County property at the time of the fire provided any information about the cause, the person said, “It’s not been determined yet. It’s under investigation, and that’s all I know that I can tell you.”
The person who took the call said he didn’t know how to get into touch with the men who were on the property at the time of the fire. “What we’ve been directing people to do at this point is to just get a hold of the Boulder sheriffs.”
The Problem Solvers asked whether anyone from the property called the fire department to report the flames, but he said he didn’t live in Colorado and had “no idea” whether anyone called 911.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office records department also denied the Problem Solvers’ request for information about previous calls for service at the Twelve Tribes address where the burning shed video was captured.
On Tuesday, the Boulder Twelve Tribes community websites produced error messages rather than content.
“I think it was just a fluke thing,” said the man who answered the Twelve Tribes toll-free number. “It wasn’t something we did, but anyway, but even that, I don’t know for sure.”