Questions arise about fire/ Bulldozer operator says he could have stopped it from entering park

From: The Gazette | Date: July 28, 2000| Author: | Copyright information

CORTEZ - A bulldozer operator says he could have stopped the Bircher Fire before it escaped into the Mesa Verde National Park and destroyed 23,000 acres, but he said park officials prevented him.

Randy Smith, a supervisor with the Montezuma County Road Department, was working with the Mancos Fire Department on July 21, digging a line around the wildland fire that began when lightning hit a farmer's field.

He had 100 yards to go to surround the fire that was burning through oak brush toward the archaeologically rich park. But he needed to plow through the park's boundary and was stopped by a ...

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