The Boulder District Attorney’s office filed a cease and desist order against Marshall fire related advertising by a Pueblo company that helps people file tort claims against companies, utilities or government entities for property lost to wildfires.

The ads by Professional Forest Management LLC, which ran in the Boulder Daily Camera and Boulder Weekly, stated: “The Marshall Fire was started by a 150-year-old coal seam fire, known to the County and City for decades.”

According to District Attorney Michael Dougherty’s office: “The above information appears to the District Attorney’s Office to be false, misleading, unfair, unconscionable, deceptive and fraudulent as prohibited by the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. … the cause(s) of the Marshall Fire has yet to be determined by investigators.”

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The deadly fire Dec. 30 in Boulder County destroyed almost 1,100 home and business, and killed two people.

The company’s managing partner Frank Carroll said they agreed to the order, and have pulled the ads.

“We agreed with them – it’s too early to be assigning cause like that,” Carroll said. “We have not signed any clients. But we’ve heard from a lot of people and we believe there will be a need (for our services) – there are more than 1,000 homes burned and almost none of them were properly insured.”

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The company is consulting plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed recently in federal court alleging “a series of bad decisions by the U.S. Forest Service in 2018 has resulted in extensive damage to the water infrastructure in southern Utah County” because of fire and floods, according to a KUTV story.

Dougherty said in a Wednesday news release lawsuits against Boulder County would likely not be allowed.

“The advertisement suggested the company would be able to help victims of the Marshall Fire get compensated for their loss, pain, and suffering by Boulder County and/or the City of Boulder when, in fact, any such claim would likely be barred by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act,” according to the release.

“Our office’s role includes making sure that consumers are not misled during this particularly vulnerable time. … We encourage community members to call 303-441-3700 with any complaints.”

Professional Forest Management has been in business for 10 years, according to Carroll, and has had 800 clients in that time. The company also does forest stewardship plans, and wildfire mitigation plans.

He said there’s a better than even chance no cause/origin will be assigned.

“In almost 50 percent of cases, no cause is assigned,” he said. “In the end, a cause needs to be established … if it’s not declared, organizations like ours and individuals will assert a cause and these entities will still have to prove they’re not responsible.”

He sees potential legal action coming to the chronic under-insurance problem most homeowners who lost everything are experiencing.

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“Almost every one of those homes that burned in the Marshall Fire were grossly under-insured,” Carroll said. “In a sense, to have that kind of under-insurance requires almost a criminal conspiracy between government and insurance agencies. How could they set rates like that? They let homeowners insure homes for $140-per-square-foot replacement costs, knowing replacement value to be between $400-$500 per square foot.”

The investigation is ongoing. Boulder County Sheriff Sheriff Joe Pelle has said the investigation is going to be long-term and multi-agency to determine the cause and origin. No timeline as been released.