FORT COLLINS, CO—With an idyllic setting at the base of the foothills of the Northern Front Range, residents of Fort Collins know that the city has a lot to offer. The bike-friendly home to Colorado State University, the city is known for its outdoor recreation, craft breweries, and quaint Old Town Square.
“We love this city,” said Mayor Bennie Cotterill, also an R&D manager at Advanced Energy, in an interview with The Oyster back in May. “We will do darn near anything to make it a better place to live.”
Apparently Cotterill and the Fort Collins City Council weren’t lying as it was revealed this week that members of the six-district Council were responsible for igniting the Cameron Peak fire which has grown to hold the distinction as largest wildfire in state history.
As Council member Mindy Fallon explained, “At our last meeting, we all agreed that we could really use some deeper hues in our sunsets over the foothills. We believed a little added smoke might our citizens the rich reddish-orange tones they deserve.”
When confronted with photographs and stories of the devastation, Cotterill hesitantly admits, “In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have started it. We only intended it to be of the four- to five-hundred-acre variety. Our bad. But you have to admit, we’ve had some really pretty evenings lately.”