Police are searching for suspects who shot a barrage of fireworks onto homes on Sunday night, sparking fires in the southern part of Ouray.
The explosions startled residents just after 9 p.m., with fireworks raining down on and shooting into the sides of houses in the area of Lee’s Ski Hill, just below the bend in the highway headed out of town.
The fireworks are believed to have originated from a spot by the guardrail on the north side of Highway 550, and police received reports from witnesses that a dark-colored Ford pickup truck left the scene.
Ouray interim Police Chief Daric Harvey said he’s investigating the incident as a crime and will seek felony charges if he makes an arrest.
“We’re still trying to determine what actually happened,” he said. “I can’t say whether it was somebody being stupid with fireworks, or something that was intentional.”
He said they’re searching for a black or dark blue Ford quad-cab truck that was occupied by more than one person and drove away from the area after 9 p.m. Sunday. Harvey said the truck had license plates from a Midwestern state and could be an F-250 model manufactured sometime between 1999 and 2004. Anyone who has information about the incident or wants to report a sighting of a vehicle matching this description can report it to law enforcement by calling non-emergency dispatch at 970-249-9110.
Harvey said witnesses reported they saw people in a black truck near the Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa and overheard them talking about how great the fireworks were. He said he doesn’t believe they were staying at the lodge.
The police chief said he is checking with businesses on Main Street to see if their security cameras picked up any video of the truck. He said he believes the fireworks were made in China and sold outside Colorado.
Evidence of the fireworks found on the highway included a package labeled “Volcanic Chaos” fireworks, advertising 176 shots.
According to information from online fireworks retailers, this type of firework is a “cake firework,” intended to create a series of assorted explosions in various colors. This particular firework costs between $299 and $599 online.
When ignited, these fireworks shoot in a rapid firing pattern. They’re specifically designed to be the grand finale to a show, with dramatic, multiple explosions. In this case, they weren’t shot into the air, but into homes, creating showers of sparks that ignited fires.
Resident Mike Kiparsky noticed the explosions from his house on Sixth Street. At first he wondered what holiday he forgot because there were so many booms and flashes that kept going, as they do in a fireworks show.
“It was not a few bottle rockets,” said Kiparsky, who described the fireworks as a “spray of multicolored flames” he saw shooting horizontally down onto the houses from the highway.
After stepping out on his porch, he called 911 and then started seeing flames on the hillside above the ski hill.
He ran up the hill, toward the fires and joined the others trying to put out the flames, some dragging garden hoses. Collectively, they managed to stamp out the flames as the fire department arrived, only minutes after the incident.
Resident Brian Saltmarsh said he knew something was wrong when one of the fireworks bounced off his roof and exploded in front of his window.
Whoever set off the fireworks Sunday night, Saltmarsh said, seemed to be intentionally aiming them at homes.
“These things never went up and fell down,” he said. “They were pointed straight down the hill. They sprayed the far side of my house. It was frickin’ crazy.”
Video of the incident posted on social media showed the fireworks streaking across the sky horizontally, into the neighborhood from the highway and exploding after ricocheting off the ground, roofs and decks. Witnesses said whoever ignited the fireworks continued shooting them off even after fires started.
This is a screenshot of a video posted on social media, showing the fireworks attack on the homes in the area of Lee’s Ski Hill on Sunday night. Source: Instagram
The incident Sunday night prompted Ouray city councilors to set a special meeting Wednesday to ban personal fireworks immediately, citing concerns about fire danger and increased visitors for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.
At the council’s regular meeting Monday night, the council discussed enacting less-strict fire restrictions, but ultimately decided safety is more important than allowing residents and visitors to use their own fireworks. The ban applies to all fireworks, including sparklers.
Councilors scheduled a special meeting at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to approve the ban, which will be in effect until the councilors rescind it.
The city’s professional Fourth of July fireworks celebration will go on as planned, weather permitting.
Councilors considered enacting Stage 1 or Stage 2 fire restrictions but ultimately decided those restrictions aren’t direct enough. That is why they decided on a simple fireworks ban.
“We came dangerously close to losing the city (on Sunday),” Mayor Ethan Funk said. “This is a worse-case scenario that almost happened, but we snuck by thanks to the firefighters and neighbors” who acted quickly to douse the spot fires.
Councilors also discussed concerns that people may continue to disregard Red Flag warnings, issued by the National Weather Service due to fire weather conditions.
Ouray has been under a Red Flag warning this week and the weather service has extended that warning until 8 p.m. Tuesday, due to dry fuels, low humidity and gusty winds creating conditions where fires will catch and spread quickly.
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