The City of Boulder, Colorado is a serene and much-loved university town nestled at the foot of majestic Rocky Mountain peaks. During the academic year it is home to over 27,000 CU undergraduates. Some unknown culprit or culprits continue to engage in the time-honored ritual of setting fire to sofas and other furniture left abandoned outdoors.
Boulder fire and other city officials, quite naturally, are deeply concerned and have taken steps to try and prevent the practice by imposing fines for abandoning furniture in yards and public ways.
City spokeswoman Sarah Huntley says, “When [couches] are left in public places that are frequented by people returning from parties or bars around 1 a.m., someone thinks it would be a good idea to light the couch on fire.” Armed with this knowledge, the logical step would appear to be to find out just who this “someone” is.
In its article reporting on the issue, dailycamera.com fails to mention whether or not anyone has ever been caught or charged with setting the fires. Logically, city police should set up surveillance on abandoned couches at about 1 a.m. Or, better yet, it would be a more permanent solution for the city simply to haul off the couches before they are set ablaze. Some enterprising students with a truck may even want to contract with the city to remove the furniture to the county dump. Any of these solutions should prove to be much less costly than having the fire department respond and douse the flames, and then haul away the furniture.
“Man’s Prosthetic Leg Set on Fire,” Colorado Business Litigation Lawyer Blog, posted 07/13/10
“The Scoop on Poop in Colorado,” Colorado Business Litigation Lawyer Blog, posted 02/17/10