Lumber mill says hot ash may have sparked deadly wildfire, as wildfire fears grow
Nina Pfaffin • Cedar City Today
CEDAR CITY – Residents in the eastern Colorado community of Cedar City woke to news that the area surrounding the area’s oldest lumber mill may have been the starting point of an eight-day fire rampage.
That news followed similar reports Wednesday morning about the death of a man from a single house fire north of Cedar City.
The incident began Nov. 20 with a fire at the Lumber Mill at the corner of U.S. Highway 8 and U.S. Highway 36.
By Nov. 23, a fire had spread to the Cedar Fork Reservoir and the surrounding hills.
Then, on Nov. 25, at least four homes along Cedar Fork Road were burned. A man living there earlier in the day died in that fire.
By Nov. 27, the fire moved onto the eastern slope of the Cedar Mesa at the base of the mountains, where the mill once stood.
Later that day, two people died from the flames. All told, nine homes including one that was vacant were destroyed. The total damage cost is not known, but it is likely not less than $300 million.
On Tuesday morning, a man was found dead after he was pushed from his home. Several houses were evacuated, and the fire was still out of control as of Thursday afternoon.
Crews were called to the scene about 12:20 p.m. Monday after reports of a dead person.
Crews began a search of the area. On Tuesday afternoon, the blaze was 100 percent contained.
Tuesday afternoon crews worked to clear the fire from the eastern slopes of the mountains where the lumber mill once stood.
On Tuesday afternoon, crews were still battling a fire near the dam where two buildings were burning.
On Tuesday evening, crews continued some efforts to contain the blaze to the property of one of the two commercial properties, where they had been investigating the cause.
Crews made several attempts to get a water supply from the area, but it came back with only a trickle of water. However, they were able to fight the fire by using water from the north side of U.S. Highway 8.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency report on the incident, the fire had grown from being out of control to a 100-acre
