JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo — The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office didn't have to look far to find the start of the Quarry Fire.
In a July 31 news conference, the agency revealed one of its deputies stumbled upon the blaze burning in Deer Creek Canyon.
"He was doing patrol work in open areas of Jeff Co. in there and came across a fire that was about 10 foot by 10 foot," said Mark Techmeyer with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
However, finding the point of origin of wildland fires isn't always easy. Just ask fire investigator and handler Brian Eberle with Colorado's Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
"It's a big mystery. It's a big puzzle. That's the fun part about being an investigator," said Eberle.
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Denver7 asked Eberle where investigators start when they're looking to pinpoint a spark in cases when the origin isn't as obvious as the Quarry Fire.
"All of our fires leave some level of clues," said Eberle.
Eberle explained a good place to start is with eyewitnesses who often have cameras.
"Once we have a general area of where we're going to focus our investigation on, then it's kind of the down and dirty work where we're down on our hands and knees and we're looking for little clues," he said.
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Little clues can be anything from the way a tree was burned to soot left on a rock. Oftentimes, that's when Eberle will bring out his four-legged partner.
"Even after all that destruction, all that burning, [dogs] can still find if this was an intentional fire and somebody used an accelerant. They can find that small minute amount of gasoline that was left over," said Eberle.
Investigators will also pull lightning reports.
When Eberle and his team can narrow in on an area, he said their job is to disprove all potential causes — a job that doesn't happen overnight.
"We often get the question of, like, "Hey, why do we not have an answer to this fire?" It can take hours to weeks to find all the answers, or to get all this data and compile it to really get an accurate picture on where that fire started," said Eberle.
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