Cold Springs and Black Tiger fire parallels There are a number of parallels between last week’s Cold Springs Fire and the Black Tiger Fire of 1989, which destroyed 44 homes and other structures about seven miles west of Boulder. Those parallels include: Date fire started: The Black Tiger Fire started July 9, 1989; the Cold Springs Fire began 27 years later to the day, July 9, 2016 Time of day: The Black Tiger Fire started at 12:35 p.m.; the Cold Springs Fire was reported around 1:30 p.m. Cause of fire: Both fires were blamed on carelessness by people; Black Tiger most likely was triggered by a discarded cigarette; Cold Springs has been attributed to an abandoned campfire. Location of ignition point: Both fires started on private property

They saw this coming.

On the cusp of summer, Chris Current was one of many sounding alarms over the dangers to the Nederland area posed by increasing numbers of people camping on national forest land — and elsewhere — around that mountain town.

Current, the executive director of the Nederland Food Pantry, cited Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, which had been devastated by a fire burning at that time.

“It’s terrifying to us, because we’re surrounded the same way,” she said.

Less than two months later, Current and much of the community she serves have now seen their lives turned upside down by the Cold Springs Fire, which destroyed eight homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people.

Realizing Nederland-area residents’ greatest fears, the dangerous 528-acre wildfire was allegedly triggered by the actions of careless campers. Two men from Alabama were charged Wednesday with fourth-degree arson; prosecutors say they failed to extinguish a fire at their makeshift campsite on private property on Cold Springs Road just north of town.

“This obviously takes it from just anecdotal examples of, ‘What if this was to happen due to a transient not completely putting out a fire?’ to now, we have more of a factual example of what can happen,” Nederland Town Marshal Paul Carrill said.

“And I think that is going to place that conversation in a whole new light, in a whole new world, where those people making those decisions (on handling negligent camper behavior) can have the hard facts in front of them. We’re talking millions of dollars in hard facts and people’s lives that have been destroyed or changed.”

Current, speaking while the Cold Springs Fire was still being fought, said, “It’s tough. It’s really tough to see it come to pass. The sadness is that I don’t think these people were malicious or mal-intended at all. I just think they were clueless and they made a horrible mistake.”

Clueless. It’s a word that comes up a lot in talking to those seeking a solution to the problems — and catastrophic risks — created by homeless, transient and often just plain irresponsible campers who flock to western Boulder County, particularly during the warmer months.

Primarily, it is the designated-dispersed U.S. Forest Service camping areas of West Magnolia and Gordon Gulch that are seen by locals as being most under siege.

On Wednesday, Rocky Mountain National Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson reported that illegal campfires are on the rise there, too, with three such incidents in three days.

But since the Cold Springs Fire was sparked by an unattended campfire on private property, it’s clearly not just a federal lands problem.

‘Dug in like ticks’

John Thompson, together with his wife, owns the Mountain Man Outdoor Store in Nederland. Like Current, he was voicing alarm about the camping situation well before the Cold Springs Fire. In its wake, his ire ratcheted skyward.

“They need to put a permanent fire ban. They need to put camp hosts at West Magnolia and Gordon Gulch. Left unmonitored, it’s like ‘Lord of the Flies’,” Thompson said.

An online petition was posted in recent days at Change.org, soliciting signatures in support of eliminating unsupervised national forest camping close to residential areas.

Thompson was motivated the day after the fire to visit both sites to post homespun notices he’d created to alert campers to the temporary fire ban put in place the same day the fire erupted.

What he found on his visits was upsetting.

At West Magnolia last Sunday, “Sure enough, there were three fires going. And I went back a few hours later, and one of the three was still going. I’m like ‘Dude, there are 500 people down the hill trying to put out a fire this morning,'” Thompson said.

The camper insisted to Thompson he had some beans that needed cooking.

“His attitude was completely lackadaisical,” Thompson recalled with palpable disgust. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, whatever. We’re going to put it out shortly.'”

On Tuesday, day four of the Cold Springs Fire, Thompson again stopped by both Gordon Gulch and West Magnolia. He found no active campfires on that visit, but he did discover plenty of trash — and campers smoking marijuana, which is illegal on federal property.

Thompson was actually surprised, he said, to even find anyone still there.

“These guys are dug in like ticks,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Guys we’ve got a lot of concern locally about campers and fires, and you might think about moving on.”

Amy Hardy, a Ward resident and volunteer for the Indian Peaks Fire Protection District, has been very active in combatting the problem camper issue. And after several days battling the Cold Springs Fire, she’s fed up.

“I think it’s time to say, no campfires in dispersed camping areas, permanently,” Hardy said. “I’m done. Done.”

For now, however, the U.S. Forest Service does not see such a declaration as an option. Lightning can start a forest fire. So can a cigarette tossed from a passing car, and the Forest Service believes much more focus needs to be placed on wildfire mitigation strategies than on permanent bans or closures.

While there is plenty of anger, there is also increased focus on what should happen next. Well before this month’s disaster, Joe Hall, who lives little more than a mile north of the fire site, had started the Peak to Peak Transients /Troublemakers Workgroup page on Facebook, which was devised as a way to pool information concerning problem campsites and relay it to law enforcement.

The name of that group has now been changed, Hall said, to the Peak to Peak Forest Watch. He envisions it as a neighborhood watch-style organization for the high country.

“That’s the official name. And we’re going to focus on watching the forest, and really increasing citizen involvement in getting out there to watch these areas,” Hall said.

“We’re also working on a website to transition to. And my goal is by the end of the summer to have a beta version of an app that people can go on with their phones and just take a picture of campsite or fire and have that go to law enforcement. I’m working with the app developer right now.”

Hall echoed Thompson’s suggestion that simply “moving on” would be a good idea for those who are perceived as doing little for Nederland and surrounding neighborhoods, but cause problems, ranging from shoplifting in local stores to triggering wildfires.

“They need to step up enforcement and just start patrolling the woods a lot more,” Hall said. “And we need to start discouraging travelers from coming through here. We need to make this area not suitable, inhospitable for them. They need to move on, somewhere else.”

Hall also underscored the fact that the Cold Springs blaze erupted not at Gordon Gulch, West Magnolia or other federal land, but on private property. Therefore, he believes that solutions people advance that are solely Forest Service-focused are not thinking sufficiently broadly.

Hall said, “There’s no way the Forest Service ever could have known” about Jimmy Andrew Suggs or Zackary Ryan Kuykendall, who were charged with fourth-degree arson for allegedly starting the fire. “There is no way any official agency could have known. The only possible way anyone could have known is if citizens saw something and said something.

“There is no silver bullet, and there isn’t going to be a silver bullet. It’s getting citizens comfortable reporting stuff, and getting information to the agencies and getting people to collaborate, to solve this problem.”

‘Punitive’ approach not the answer

The most collaborative effort around the high country camping issue is that of the Nederland Interagency Council on Homeless Encampments, or NICHE. It is an initiative that sprang from the preexisting Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Task Force.

NICHE includes members from the Forest Service, the Nederland Police Department, Foothills United Way, local business interests and more. It’s spearheaded by Hansen Wendlandt, the pastor at Nederland Community Presbyterian Church.

Wendlandt said the fire, which started “right above my house,” reinforces the need for his group, which partners with law enforcement to help educate the hundreds of campers who put down a sleeping bag near Nederland each year.

Volunteers this summer set up more fire rings at Forest Service designated-dispersed areas, while deputies with the sheriff’s office have left water at sites to douse campfires, he said. They also give out a camping guide that includes information about fire safety.

Wendlandt said that before the Cold Springs Fire, “This summer had gone pretty well in Nederland. We’re making great progress, but there’s no way to talk to everybody.”

Closing the designated-dispersed camping areas on the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests land likely only would push more people to camp on private land, he said.

“If we get punitive, the homeless will end up in places where there aren’t fire rings, and it’s not easy to access with emergency equipment,” Wendlandt said.

There’s no quick fix, he said, adding that the Cold Springs Fire isn’t the first started by transients camping and won’t be the last.

“It’s not just the three dumb kids responsible for this fire,” he said. “It’s far bigger than just Nederland. As a nation, we have to address homelessness and hopelessness. If we can’t figure this out, it’s just going to keep happening. It’s going to happen all over the country.”

Former Nederland Mayor Joe Gierlach agreed.

“There’ a national trend with homelessness,” he said. “It’s in Denver, it’s in Boulder, and it’s in Nederland. And everybody says these homeless people should go someplace else, and in many cases, ‘someplace else’ turns out to be Nederland — or turns out to be somewhere outside of Nederland. It is an issue that has to be dealt with on multiple levels.”

Current, at the town’s food pantry, which regularly provides free food to campers who need it, is also a NICHE member and sees things the same way.

“In the big picture, there needs to be a lot of change. We need housing, and we need jobs. It’s where you send your federal dollars,” Current said.

And the housing need she perceives is not just in Nederland. It’s “everywhere,” she said, because its lack is partly what’s driving some people into the woods and a subsistence-level lifestyle.

“And I’m tired of the ‘affordable,'” she said. “‘Affordable’ is not, for a lot of folks. It has to be low-income housing.”

On the more immediate horizon, she added, “We already have people willing to hike in the woods and tell the people out there that there is a fire ban. And we’ll also have some other actions going on.”

Forest Service emphasis on education

Hardy, another member of the NICHE group, insists a permanent ban on fires at sites such as West Magnolia and Gordon Gulch is an attainable goal.

“The Forest Service would consider permanently banning campfires in dispersed areas if there was enough public outcry, if there were enough community leaders and representatives writing in and saying, ‘enough is enough,'” said Hardy, who also chairs the Intermountain Alliance.

“It doesn’t matter that this fire wasn’t started on Forest Service land,” Hardy said. “The majority (of unattended campfires) are on Forest Service, dispersed camping lands.”

And cracking down on what happens on federal lands, Hardy argued, could have a carry-over effect that might mitigate issues on private property as well.

“I think the good thing about doing it permanently is that people will get the message, that they can’t just come up here and camp anywhere and have a fire,” Hardy said. “We need to be more empowered to walk up to those folks and say, ‘Hey, what’s up? What are you doing?'”

Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest spokeswoman Reid Armstrong said blanket clampdowns such as permanent open fire bans need to be weighed against the rights of people who do understand how to respect the land and follow the rules.

“There’s a lot of people who enjoy having campfires when they go camping,” Armstrong said. “You’re talking about hunters. You’re talking about all sorts of people who come to enjoy this area. And campfires are a big part of the experience for a lot of people. So it is not a decision we would make lightly or without a lot of community involvement and input.”

Therefore, Armstrong said, “At the moment, our focus is really on educating people on what is good behavior, how to put out your campfire, what is expected, how to clean up after yourself, sanitation, safety and good behavior and taking care of your campsite. Following the rules and being good stewards of the land.”

But Hardy and others living in mountain communities are concerned that some high country visitors are never going to get the message. Ongoing problems with recreational shooters, often using exploding targets, are also prominent on area residents’ list of complaints.

If the Forest Service would enact a permanent ban of open fires on its lands, Thompson, the Mountain Man Outdoor Store owner said, “I could have the signs printed up in an hour.”

The fire next time, area residents fear, could be worse.

“It isn’t until a mass number of people get together and get mad,” Hardy said, “that something’s going to change.”

Staff Writer Amy Bounds contributed to this report

Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan