Nearly a year after the Marshall fire destroyed over 1,000 homes in Louisville and Superior, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office is still working on learning the cause, but they say they are close.
On Dec. 30, 2021, the Marshall fire broke out in unincorporated Boulder County. Members of the public have speculated many reasons why the fire may have started, including a fire in a shed near Marshall Road and high winds causing downed power lines. By Jan. 2, officials had ruled out the possibility of down power lines and were focusing on other sources.
In a news release from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, investigators were required to review all evidence in the case for potential causes. Those causes include lightning, equipment use such as mechanical failure of a vehicle or equipment usage without a spark arrestor, smoking or cigarettes thrown from a vehicle, campfires in the area, debris burning, the use of fireworks, children playing with matches, potential underground coal mine fires, electrical supply infrastructure and other possible sources such as welding, grinding and target shooting.
"The Sheriff’s Office is sharing this list to help illustrate the possible sources of a fire, not to indicate that any of these sources caused the Marshall Fire. Several of the possible causes on the list were eliminated early in the investigation," the news release stated.
The Sheriff's Office would not list which of the possible causes had been ruled out as of Thursday.
The investigation has included thousands of hours of investigator's time.
In January, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said “Something ignited that fire on a red flag day and our quest is to determine what started that fire. But I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole in speculation.”
With so much at stake, Pelle and other investigators have not hinted at what could have been the cause of the fire.
According to Carrie Haverfield, spokesperson at the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, officials have been waiting on several questions to be answered by outside agencies.
Investigators hope to have an answer for the public in the early part of next year, however, an exact date has yet to be determined, according to Haverfield.
" The Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office are committed to sharing all the findings with the community. We understand the importance of this investigation and we appreciate the community’s patience and support," the news release states.
The Sheriff's Office collected over 186 items of evidence, according to the news release. This includes 49 physical items and 137 pieces of digital evidence — including drone footage and photographs taken by witnesses and investigators. The digital evidence includes over 266 body-worn camera recordings and 450 photos captured by body-worn cameras.
Not including interviews of first responders, the Sheriff's Office followed up on over 200 tips associated with the fire.
