Barbara Lawlor, Boulder County.   Two campers were arrested Sunday afternoon on charges of fourth degree arson after being identified as the people who were camping near the origin of the Cold Springs Fire which started Saturday around 1:30 p.m.

Shortly after fire crews arrived at the intersection of Cold Springs and the Peak to Peak highway, the two suspects Jimmy Suggs, 28, and Zachary Kuykendall, 26, of Vinemont, Alabama were seen leaving the site, with a female companion, heading down the Peak to Peak, carrying a large blue tarp.

Later that day they showed up at the Evacuation Center at the Nederland High School, looking for a place to stay, saying they had been camping near where the fire had started. They spent the night at the center talking to people, including reporters, saying they had never seen anything like it, and it was scary.

According to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects had stayed overnight on Thursday and had built a campfire. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said that the two men claimed they tried to put the fire out by piling rocks on top of it, but 90 degree temperatures and high winds blew smoldering sparks beyond the fire pit.

Fire investigators and Sheriff’s detectives determined that the fire was not properly extinguished and the men were charged with felony arson because lives were endangered as a result of the fire. They were arrested at the high school on Sunday, July 10, 2016, and booked into the Boulder County Jail. The female with them was not charged.

Suggs and Kuykendall appeared in Boulder County court on Monday morning when prosecutors asked for a $750,000 bond for each of them, because they are potential flight risks. Judge David Archuleta agreed that there was a flight risk but set bond at $200,000 for Kuykendall and $150,000 for Suggs.

According to the arrest affidavit, the suspects said it “had to have been us,” because there was nobody else around.