SAN LUIS — Danish national Jesper Joergensen, 52, will have a preliminary hearing Thursday on Huerfano County arson charges emerging from the Spring Creek Fire last June and July.
A total of 141 arson charges face Joergensen, who allegedly started a rapidly moving fire June 27, 2018 that spread over more than 108,000 acres in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and was traced back to his rustic home in a remote area about four miles east of Fort Garland.
District Attorney Crista Newmyer-Olsen said the charges were filed in Costilla County due to the fact that there is an open case file there.
A September preliminary hearing resulted in probable cause that Joergensen started a fire that devastated parts of two counties, and would be tried for 141 counts of felonious first-degree arson.
Two inspectors from the Colorado Division of Fire Protection testified Wednesday that they traced the fire to Joergensen’s place after the fire had already burned its way across part of Costilla County.
Determining the general area where the fire began by studying wind direction, burn patterns and other technical details, as well as information learned at the command center that had been set up at Sierra Grande School between Blanca and Fort Garland, Colorado Fire Inspector Colton Balthazor said a team of four scoured the area thought to be point of origin for the fire.
Balthazor said they determined the general area and located a burned camper, along with a shed, some chairs and other items including two fire pits and a burn barrel.
While evidence taken didn’t support any deliberate action by Joergensen to start the raging wildfire, the inspector said he began open burning when a Stage One Burn Ban was in effect.
Inspector David Chadwell, tasked with primarily enforcing fire and building code compliance, said he was told to determine the origin of the wildfire.
He said four-man team including himself and Balthazor began working in an area east of Fort Garland on a road identified by other authorities at the command center, following the rustic road, then a small path of a road to a dry creek bed, they studied burn patterns to determine a location near a burned camper.
Studying what they found there, Chadwell said lightning was ruled out, as was a gas generator, which had been unplugged. Examining two underground burn pits and a 55-gallon burn barrel, they found each had been the location of fire at one point, but there was no debris in either pit and inspectors couldn’t find a grate that could have been used for cooking. A fallen tree was found in the area, along with the burn barrel, which was filled beyond capacity and had been on fire.
The greatest loss was in the Forbes Park Subdivision and maps were prepared to show the location and extent of damage. The same was done in Huerfano County after the fire topped the peaks and began burning toward La Veta.
Costilla County Sheriff’s deputies received a call on July 27 that there was a fire east of Fort Garland, a fire that would race through the forest until it was stopped in Huerfano County.
In his closing argument, Assistant 12th Judicial District Attorney Ashley McCuaig said the fire was deliberately started by Joergensen at his own place and in such a manner that it was allowed to take off accidentally.
Anyone who was affected by the Spring Creek Fire in Costilla and Huerfano counties is asked to contact Victoria Chavez at the Office of the District Attorney, 719-589-3691 to be placed on a mailing list and keep updated.
The Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who assisted the sheriff’s office and Colorado Bureau of Investigation in arresting Joergensen, placed an immigration detainer on the suspect who is from Denmark and had an expired worker’s visa when arrested.
These detainers are placed on immigrants who are likely up for deporting, as well as immigrants who’ve allegedly committed a crime. Basically, the detainer means ICE would like to take custody of the person if and when they are released from jail for any reason, ICE said.