Officials say a wildfire in Colorado that burned over 1,000 acres earlier this week was ignited by a load of garbage.
The Dahlberg Fire caused the evacuation of 17 homes in Douglas County on Tuesday afternoon after it sparked near Dahlberg Road and quickly began to spread southeast, fueled by dry grass and high winds. Numerous state and local agencies and fire departments rushed to help bring the fast-moving fire under control.
Around four hours after it ignited, firefighters had the grass fire 100% contained, and the evacuation order was lifted. The grass fire burned a total of 1,081 acres.
On Thursday, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office shared that investigators determined the fire was caused by a hot load dropped by a trash truck. “Hot loads” refer to fires that spark when materials in a trash truck catch fire, smoulder, spontaneously combust or become toxic. They can be caused by items like hot ashes, motor oil or gasoline, paint and varnish, propane tanks, lithium batteries, cooking oil, and other combustible materials…