Colorado Wildfires 2013: Royal Gorge Fire Forces Prison Evacuation, Black Forest Fire Burns Up To 100 Homes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A wildfire fueled by hot temperatures, gusty winds and thick, bone-dry forests has destroyed 92 homes, damaged five more and prompted more than 7,000 residents northeast of Colorado Springs to flee, sheriff's official said Wednesday.

A separate Colorado wildfire to the south has destroyed 20 structures, including some in Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, and prompted evacuations of about 250 residents and nearly 1,000 inmates at a medium-security prison. To the north, another fire burned in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Wildfires also were burning in New Mexico, Oregon and California, where a smokejumper was killed fighting one of dozens of lightning-sparked fires.

Crews were so busy battling blazes across the West that the U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday it was mobilizing a pair of Defense Department cargo planes to help – a step taken only when all of the Forest Service's contracted tankers already are in use.

The fire near Colorado Springs, one of several that broke out Tuesday along Colorado's Front Range, has prompted evacuation orders and pre-evacuation notices to between 9,000 and 9,500 people and about 3,500 homes and businesses, sheriff's officials said.

Some Colorado Springs residents were warned to be ready to evacuate, mostly because of a fear of flying embers spreading the fire into the state's second-largest city. Sheriff's officials also evacuated part of neighboring Elbert County, including two camps with a total of about 1,250 children and adults.

Bits of ash and the smell of smoke drifted into Denver, about 60 miles to the north, where the haze blocked the sun.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, but El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said officials were trying to confirm the whereabouts of one person reported missing Wednesday. Firefighters tried to go where the person was last seen but were turned back twice because it was too hot, he said.

Maketa said he was worried about those who chose to ignore evacuation orders and stay behind.

"One of my worst fears is that people took their chances and it may have cost them their life," he said.

The area is not far from last summer's Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 346 homes and killed two people.

Denver Broncos guard Ben Garland's grandparents lost their home in that blaze and now live in a Black Forest neighborhood. Smoke billowed near their new home Wednesday.

"It's tough. It was tough going through it the first time," Garland said. "I know the first time, we didn't take it as seriously. We just thought it'd pass over and the firefighters would take care of it. The second time, it was really scary and they packed up real quick and got ready to go."

The Forest Service mobilized specially equipped Defense Department C-130s to drop slurry on wildfires in the West after all 12 of its air tankers were deployed. At least one was fighting the Black Forest Fire.

By law, the Modular Airborne Firefighting System – MAFFS – planes can be deployed only when all of the Forest Service's contracted tankers are in use. Around this time last year, the aircraft sat on runways when massive wildfires burned in Colorado and New Mexico.

In northeast California, Luke Sheehy was fatally injured this week by part of a falling tree in Modoc National Forest. The 28-year-old from Susanville, Calif., was a member of the Redding-based California Smokejumpers – firefighters who parachute into remote areas from airplanes.

In New Mexico, a wildfire burning in the steep, narrow canyons of the Pecos Wilderness north of Santa Fe grew to more than 12 square miles Wednesday. It was burning about 10 miles southeast of some small communities. Crews planned to build fire lines and clear out fuel in key areas miles ahead of the blaze in hopes of protecting the communities if the fire heads that way.

In southwestern New Mexico, firefighters were trying to keep a massive wildfire from reaching an old mining town whose 45 or so residents have been evacuated. That fire was burning in a mountainous area of dense forest.

About 60 miles southwest of Colorado's Black Forest Fire, a 4.5-square-mile wildfire that evacuated Royal Gorge Bridge & Park has destroyed 20 structures, including some in the park, but the park's animals are all right.

Shots Fired At Denver Civic Center Pot Rally 4/20

DENVER — Gunfire erupted at a Denver pot celebration Saturday, injuring two people and scattering a crowd of thousands who had gathered for the first 4/20 counterculture holiday since the state legalized marijuana.
The man and woman who were shot were expected to survive, and police were looking for one or two suspects, said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson. Police asked festival attendees for possible photo or video of the shootings, and had no immediate motive.
Witnesses described a scene in which a jovial atmosphere quickly turned to one of panic at the downtown Civic Center Park just before 5 p.m. Several thought firecrackers were being set off, then a man fell bleeding, his dog also shot.
"I saw him fall, grabbing his leg," said Travis Craig, 28, who was at the celebration, saw the shooting and said he used a belt to apply a tourniquet to the man's leg.
"He was just screaming that he was in pain, and wanted to know where his girlfriend was. She was OK. And then the cops showed up real quick, like, less than a minute. They put him on ambulance and left."
The annual pot celebration this year was expected to draw as many as 80,000 people after recent laws in Colorado and Washington made marijuana legal for recreational use.

A sizable police force on motorcycles and horses had been watching the celebration since its start earlier Saturday. But authorities, who generally look the other way at public pot smoking here on April 20, didn't arrest people for smoking in public, which is still illegal.
Police said earlier in the week that they were focused on crowd security in light of attacks that killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
"We're aware of the events in Boston," said Denver police spokesman Aaron Kafer, who declined to give specifics about security measures being taken. "Our message to the public is that, if you see something, say something."

Stephanie Riedel, who traveled to the pot celebration from Pittsburgh, said she was dancing with a hula hoop when she heard pops. A man ran past her, then she said the crowd started screaming and running away. She was about 20 feet from the shooting and heard four or five shots.
"I couldn't make sense of what it was at first," she said. "We were all having a good time and I was in the mindframe of, we're here at a peace gathering. I thought it some guys playing."
Rapper Lil' Flip was performing when the shootings occurred.
Aerial footage showed the massive crowd frantically running from the park.
Ian Bay, who was skateboarding through Civic Center Park when shots erupted, said he was listening to music on his headphones when he looked to his right and saw a swarm of hundreds of people running at him.
"I sort of panicked. I thought I was going through an anxiety thing because so many people were coming after me," he said.
Before the shooting, reggae music filled the air, and so did the smell of marijuana, as celebrants gathered by mid-morning in the park just beside the state Capitol.
Group smoke-outs were planned Saturday from New York to San Francisco. The origins of the number "420" as a code for pot are murky, but the drug's users have for decades marked the date 4/20 as a day to use pot together.
Colorado and Washington are still waiting for a federal response to the votes and are working on setting up commercial pot sales, which are still limited to people with certain medical conditions. In the meantime, pot users are free to share and use the drug in small amounts.
A citizen advocacy group that opposes marijuana proliferation, Smart Colorado, warned in a statement that public 4/20 celebrations "send a clear message to the rest of the nation and the world about what Colorado looks like."
"Does the behavior of the participants in these events reflect well on our state?" asked the head of Smart Colorado, Henny Lasley.
A smaller Sunday event scheduled at the park was canceled.
Saturday's attack recalled a similar shooting that left a police officer dead at a crowded jazz concert in Denver's City Park last summer.
The 22-year-old suspect in that case pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faces at least 16 years in prison when he is sentenced at a hearing scheduled for June 21.
His attorneys said he was being pursued by gang members when he drew his weapon and fired.

Prisoner Escapes By Allegedly Impersonating Deputy

Denver, CO (KUSA) -- Felix Trujillo, 24, an inmate at the Denver Jail downtown escaped at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evening.
In a press release the Sheriff's Office said, "Felix Trujillo may be armed and should be considered extremely dangerous."
There were reports Sunday evening that Trujillo may have been wearing a deputy's uniform and was carrying a gun and police radio.
Major Frank Gale, with the Denver Sheriff's Office, told 9NEWS in an email, "He (Trujillo) may have a deputy's uniform jacket but does not have a radio or any officer's gun."
According to a Denver jail offender list, Trujillo was being held for aggravated robbery and a community corrections violation.
Trujillo has a lengthy criminal history in Colorado. 9Wants To Know investigative reporter Jace Larson has learned that Trujillio was charged with escape in Adams County in 2011 but plead guilty to attempted escape and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Denver police are actively searching for Trujillo, who is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds with tattoos on his neck and chest.
9NEWS reporter Kevin Torres reported seeing little police activity in the area around the jail at Colfax and Delaware at 10:00 p.m. Sunday night.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call 720-913-2000 or 911.

Members Of White Supremacist Gang Sought In Colorado Prison Chief Death

DENVER — Authorities investigating the death of Colorado's prisons chief told law enforcement officers Wednesday to be on the lookout for two known associates of a white supremacist prison gang.
James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31, aren't being called suspects in the death of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements, but their names have surfaced during the investigation, El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer said. He wouldn't elaborate.
An officer safety bulletin regarding the two was sent out Wednesday. Kramer said Lohr and Guolee are known associates of the 211 Crew. That's the same gang whose members included Evan Ebel, who is a suspect in the death of Clements on March 19 and of Nathan Leon, a pizza deliveryman, two days earlier.
Ebel was killed in a shootout with Texas authorities after the deaths. Investigators have said the gun Ebel used in the shootout was also used to kill Clements when the prisons chief answered the front door of his home.
Ebel is the only suspect that investigators have named in Clements' death, but they haven't given a motive. They have said they're looking into his connection to the gang he joined while in prison, and whether that was connected to the attack.
"Investigators are looking at a lot of different possibilities. We are not stepping out and saying it's a hit or it's not a hit. We're looking at all possible motives," Kramer said Wendesday.
Sheriff's investigators said they don't know the whereabouts of Lohr and Guolee or if they are together, but Kramer said it's possible one or both of them could be headed to Nevada or Texas.
Both are wanted on warrants unrelated to Clements' death, and authorities believe they are armed and dangerous.
Guolee is a parolee who served time for intimidating a witness and giving a pawnbroker false information, among other charges, court records show. Lohr was being sought on warrants out of Las Animas County for a bail violation and a violation of a protection order, according to court records.
The 211 gang is one of the most vicious white supremacist groups operating in U.S. prisons, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups. It was founded in 1995 to protect white prisoners from attacks and operates only in Colorado, according to the center.
Ebel joined the 211 Crew after he entered prison in 2005 for a string of assault and menacing charges that combined for an eight-year sentence. He was supposed to spend an extra four years in prison for punching a prison officer in the face in 2006, but a clerical error led that sentence to be recorded as one to be served simultaneously with his previous sentences.
He was released on parole Jan. 28.
Records show that the vendor operating the electronic monitoring bracelet that Ebel wore noted a "tamper alert" March 14. Corrections officials left a message for Ebel telling him to report in two days and have the bracelet repaired, records show.
The next day, for the first time since his release, Ebel did not call in for his daily phone check-in.
On March 16, he missed his appointment to repair the bracelet. Only on the following day do the records show that a note was made in the corrections system that he failed to show up.
By then, Leon, a father of three, was shot and killed after answering a call for a pizza at a Denver truck stop.
On March 18, parole officers contacted Ebel's father, who said he was concerned his son had fled and gave them permission to search Evan Ebel's apartment. The next afternoon, two parole officers concluded he had fled.
Hours later, Clements answered his doorbell and was fatally shot.
The next morning, still unaware of a connection with the most recent slaying, the state issued a warrant for Ebel's arrest on parole violations.
A sheriff's deputy in rural Texas pulled Ebel over March 21, but he fled. Ebel was killed in the shootout that followed.
Clements, born in St. Louis, worked for 31 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, both in prison and as a parole officer, before he joined the Colorado Department of Corrections in 2011.

Evan Spencer Ebel Identified As Man In Texas Shootout, Paroled Colo. Inmate

The man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase and may be linked to two Colorado murders, including that of Department of Corrections director Tom Clements, has been identified.

Various media outlets including The Associated Press and The Denver Post have confirmed that man is 28-year-old Evan Spencer Ebel, a parolee in the Denver metro area.

The Denver Post also reports that Ebel may have been a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211s.

Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Ebel has a lengthy criminal record and was paroled but would not release further information because of the ongoing investigation.

Authorities are still investigating whether Ebel was linked to Clements' slaying and the Sunday night killing of 27-year-old Nathan Leon, a Denver Domino's pizza delivery man.

 

Authorities say that that Ebel is hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting, and is brain dead.

"We don't know yet exactly whether this is the guy," Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters Thursday afternoon. "There's some indication. I hope it is."