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Wildfire That Burned Home Fully Contained

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May 11, 2008 6:35 pm US/Mountain

Wildfire That Burned Home Fully Contained

Reporting
Howard Nathan
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4/AP) ― A fire official said a wildfire east of Colorado Springs near Schriever Air Force Base burned at least 9,000 acres and scorched 10 structures including one home.

Officials said the fire is now 100 percent contained.

Investigators said they're looking at the possibility that a lit cigarette started the fire.

Falcon Fire Protection District spokesman Danny Miller said no injuries were reported. He said the fire began just after noon Saturday about a mile south of Highway 94 on N. Ellicott Highway and has spread west toward Colorado Springs and south toward Pueblo.

He said 15 agencies battled the wind-driven blaze.

Some homeowners escaped the fire through smart planning.

"I cut the grass pretty short around my house for stuff like this," homeowner Michael Carroll said. "I've been told to do that. I've got a little bit of a berm back there and that's were it stopped, at the berm."

"We have 14 or so horses that kept the grass down on our property," Kevin McFarlan said. "They basically grazed the grass down enough to keep the fire out of there. It burned right up to the edge of my house."

Miller said houses near Schriever Air Force Base were under a mandatory evacuation order, which has now bee lifted.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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