BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Edward Harrell didn’t know it when he recorded it, but a video he shot with his cell phone the day the Marshall Fire exploded contains evidence of a potential source of the fire.
The video appears to show a detached power line in the same spot investigators now believe was the second ignition source for the most destructive natural disaster in Colorado history.
The video – recorded about a third of a mile south of the Twelve Tribes property – shows what investigators say was a “detached” power line.
That detached power line, according to Boulder County-led investigation, likely resulted in “hot particles” being “discharged during the extreme wind event on Dec. 30, 2021.”
While investigators believe the initial source of the Marshall Fire was a days-long smoldering trash burn on the Twelve Tribes property, they also believe the Xcel power line turned into a second ignition source for the fire. It’s a claim Xcel Energy continues to deny.
Harrell’s video does, however, show a problem with the line around 12:05 p.m. on the day of the fire. It’s clearly detached from the top of a pole located near the Marshall Mesa Trailhead.
Two minutes later, in a separate location north of that spot, Harrell recorded sparks coming from another line.
Harell’s video is one of the hundreds that 9NEWS collected as part of its BURNED project.
Last year, the 9NEWS ORIGINALS team geolocated and timestamped hundreds of videos in an effort to help viewers better understand just how a small grassfire turned into an urban firestorm.
The project continues to live at https://www.marshallfiremap.com
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