Fire Chief Dann Babcox Sr. said his agency won’t fight fires on a certain property in Pray due to the hazards to his firefighters and their equipment “unless there is a human life at stake.”
Park County Rural Fire District #1 responded to three fires on the property in the last year, the last of which was on Feb. 12, when two campers were destroyed. The cause of the fire is unknown, Babcox told the board of Park County Rural Fire District #1 on Monday.
“Because of the condition of the property, I am going to send a letter or email to both the sheriff and the county attorney and explain to them my intent to write a certified letter to the homeowner or landowner of the property explaining to him that we will no longer be doing fire suppression on his property due to the hazards that it has created for my firefighters and the equipment,” Babcox told the board.
The district will respond to any fires on the property, and if no human life is at risk, will form a perimeter and contain the fire, he told the board.
“We have damaged too many of our trucks,” Babcox said. “Just walking through there, you’ll snag your leg on iron, steel, not to mention the trip hazards even in the daylight is magnified tremendously at night. Last night’s was dusk into darkness and so was the second fire.”
Additionally, there are “too many unknowns” on the property — potential hazards to firefighters caused by “potential chemicals” in “storage facilities,” dozens of propane tanks, stockpiles of tires and Styrofoam insulation, he said.
The state fire marshal gave the property owner a list of problems that need to be fixed on the property, Babcox told the board. The property is near Inverness and Caledonia roads.
Two campers, one being used as storage, burned down in a fire on Sunday, Feb. 12, in Paradise Valley. Around 5:24 p.m. on Sunday, Park County Rural Fire District #2, along with the Paradise Valley Fire Department of Emigrant, responded to a call for a structure fire at Inverness Road off Caledonia Road in Pray.
“A camper that was being used as storage caught on fire,” PCFD firefighter and public information officer Danielle Babcox said Monday of the Sunday blaze. “Because of the close proximity, another camper that was being used as a residence caught fire as well. The fire was kept to those two campers, as the owners were able to move the other four campers so they didn’t get burned at all. This is the third structure fire we have responded to this address in the last year.”
