COLORADO SPRINGS, June 14 (UPI) -- Investigators believe someone started the Black Forest wildfire north of Colorado Springs, which has killed two people and destroyed 400 homes, officials said.
"I'm pretty confident that natural causes will be out the window," El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said Friday. "With two deaths already blamed on the fire, investigators will focus on whether the cause was arson or an accident.
"We didn't have lightning in the area. Lightning is usually one of the contributing factors we first look at in the area when it comes to natural causes," Maketa said.
Light rain was reported in the area Friday, and all mandatory evacuation orders in Colorado Springs were lifted, but the fire remained 30 percent contained, and evacuation orders near the fire's edge were still in place, The Denver Post reported.
The fire has consumed 15,700 acres since it began Tuesday.
"What I witnessed was very encouraging, compared to the previous night," Maketa said earlier. "Yesterday we made some tremendous ground, especially when it came to structure protections."
Two people are confirmed to have died in the fire, the Post said. Their names have not been released.
