LA Veta Cemetery District

Jesper Joergensen’s next court appearance will be Aug. 2, said Rob McCallum, spokesman for the Colorado Judicial Branch.All the judges in the 12th Judicial District have recused themselves from the case, and Senior Judge Gregory Lyman has been assigned to preside over it, McCallum said.At least one employee of the judicial district is a potential victim of the crime, according to an order disqualifying the judges. Because the district is so small, almost everyone who works for the courts knows someone who has been affected by the fire, McCallum said.“We can’t have anybody in the 12th Judicial District have anything to do with this case,” McCallum said.The Spring Creek fire continues to burn in Costilla and Huerfano counties, and it has destroyed more than 140 homes since it started June 27. The fire has consumed 107,967 acres and is 83 percent contained.Joergensen, 52, was arrested by Costilla County sheriff’s deputies in connection with the fire, after he called 911 to report it. Joergensen first told deputies he had been burning trash at his campsite but later said he had built a fire pit to cook meat, according to his arrest affidavit.The indictment lists the name and address of each person whose home or garage was destroyed in the fire. Most of the homes are in the Forbes Park and Wagon Creek subdivisions.Joergensen is from Denmark and was staying in the United States on an expired visa. An immigration detainer has been placed on him by ICE.Helen H. Richardson, The Denver PostFirefighters from left to right Spencer Heidepriem, Lydia Zowada, and Carmella Locascio conduct a burnout operation to protect structures of the Spring Creek Fire on July 9, 2018 in La Veta. Containment numbers continue to climb in the fire as officials gain more of a handle on the large fire.Helen H. Richardson, The Denver PostTaskforce leader Scott Affeldt walks through a burned area of the Spring Creek Fire as he and his crew maintain structure protection on July 9, 2018 in La Veta. Containment numbers continue to climb in the fire as officials gain more of a handle on the larg...

For the town of about 800 people west of Walsenburg, the week of July Fourth is make or break. This year, a wildfire unlike any the region has seen, ruined the best-laid plans.“All of our business comes in the summer,” lamented Nanda Ranes, owner of the Corners Diner in La Veta. “I’m completely distraught about the whole thing.”Instead of tourists, hundreds of firefighters set up camp in the town to battle the Spring Creek fire, which has burned more than 107,000 acres, making it the state’s third biggest, on its way to becoming the second largest in history.The airfield, on a high bluff above the town, didn’t host 2,000 concertgoers listening to country music at the Spanish Peaks Music Festival. Instead, the rhythmic whir of helicopter blades and the sloshing of their buckets dipping into big tubs filled with slurry filled the air.Only a handful of people milled around Main Street on Saturday afternoon, an eerie quiet that left business owners uncertain of what the future would hold. The blue skies seemed far removed from the smoke-filled ones earlier that week.Initially, residents worried that the fire cresting the nearby mountains would sweep down and destroy the community first settled during the Civil War. Then they worried about whether Cuchara and the surrounding vacation homes would survive. They did.They now worry what recovery looks like, and who will make it through the winter.“It was like we were standing at the gates of hell,” said La Veta Mayor Doug Brgoch of the night of June 28. Crews had lost their fight to contain the fire in the trees on the slopes above the town. Flames looked ready to roll down and claim everything.“They told us they don’t fight fires from the front,” Brgoch said. “They then told us we will make a frontal assault.”Hot shot crews dove in, aircraft dropped slurry and firefighters on the ground back burned the grass and brush. “They saved La Veta,” Brgoch said.Helen H. Richardson, The Denver PostFirefighters from left to right Spencer Heidepriem, Lydia Zowada, and Carmella Locascio conduct a burnout operation to...

But when the Spring Creek fire began heading toward their property and home Thursday evening, they had only two and a half hours to evacuate.“There wasn’t a whole lot of time to think,” Larry Morgan said. “Our heads were wrapped around getting the irreplaceable stuff.”They packed up family photos and antiques and loaded up their cattle, before heading over to Morgan’s nephew’s house at Maria Lake in Walsenberg. On Friday evening, they found out they had lost their home, just a few hours after it burned down.“After the shock wears off, it’s kind of hard to realize you’ve got no place to go,” Morgan said.Morgan spent his childhood on the ranch, hunting, fishing and climbing its many trees. His parents are buried in the family cemetery there and just a few years ago, Morgan returned to the ranch with his wife of 32 years, Jeanie, and two of his three children, Eric, 18, and Tami, 13.Now, Morgan worries he won’t be able to share these memories with his children, after the house and hundreds of its acres — including the family cemetery — were torched.“That was always Grandma’s house for all my kids and all my nieces and nephews, too,” he said. “So that’s why it’s so hard on them not being able to (experience that) because it’s a different way of life now.”The Spring Creek fire is on track to become the second-largest fire in state history, having burned through more than 107,000 acres in southern Colorado straddling La Veta Pass. It has destroyed at least 132 homes, and thousands have been displaced. As of Monday night, the fire was 77 percent contained. It broke out on June 27, allegedly caused by a man who did not put out a campfire.Authorities have allowed homeowners in some of the burn areas to return, if briefly, to their properties to assess the damage.Photo courtesy of Michelle West.BEFORE THE FIRE: This is the view from the property of Larry Morgan looking towards Mount Mestas before the Spring Creek Fire burned through the area in La Veta, Colorado. The Morgan family lost more than 300 acres of land and their home to the Spring Creek Fire.Helen H. ...