On Losing Two of Our Own in Colorado

My name is Robert Wright and I am the Volunteer Field Representative for The Correctional Peace Officers (CPO) Foundation in Colorado. I often venture out of Colorado and assist Officers and Staff in New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana, doing whatever I can to “take care of our own.”

I retired as a Correctional Lieutenant after 20 years in Colorado Corrections.

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 the Colorado Department of Corrections and the Correctional Family nationwide tragically lost two of our own in the line of duty who worked at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility [AVCF] in Colorado:  Correctional Officers John Schwartz, Jr. and Terry DeVore.

Earlier that terrible day, news had spread as rapidly as the fire itself throughout the community east of Pueblo, Colorado about a wildfire that was burning out of control and threatening the town of Ordway as well as several private homes in the county. Ordway is just a few miles east of AVCF. The fire was being pushed by 60 mile an hour winds. All 1,200 residents of Ordway had to be evacuated.

AVCF Warden Michael Arellano issued a memo that released from their Correctional duties at the facility those that wished to assist the community in battling the fire. Two of the Officers who immediately responded were John Schwartz and Terry DeVore. No surprise there: these two Correctional Officers were also firefighters with the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department. (In fact, Officer DeVore had recently been elected fire chief.)  Olney Springs is a little town near Olney of about 300 residents of which Officer DeVore’s mother, Deborah, is the mayor.

Horror occurred when Terry and John, traveling in their fire truck through heavy smoke on Highway 96, drove onto a bridge that suddenly collapsed under them. The bridge was made of heavy timbers and had caught fire from the underside. A second fire truck in which Terry’s dad, Bruce DeVore, also a firefighter, was riding stopped just short of the collapsed bridge. They tried to put out the fire and save Officers DeVore and Schwartz but were unable to do so.

The fire burned over 8,500 acres and destroyed 24 structures that included at least eight private homes. Five buildings were destroyed in the town of Ordway.

      When I first heard about this terrible fire and all that were responding to help fight it, I felt a sharp pain in my heart knowing that Correctional Staff were among those out there not only protecting all of us but trying to protect their own homes and families as well. Then, learning of the deaths and, finally, reading the newspaper articles that followed I grieved with an even heavier heart. Everyone in Cañon City and the surrounding area has driven many times over the bridge that collapsed and took the lives of Officers DeVore and Schwartz.

      Terry DeVore, 30, was married to Jennifer DeVore who is also a Correctional Officer at AVCF. They have four children:  Ryan and Breann, nine; Katie, six, and Jeremiah, three.

      John Schwartz, Jr., 38, was a single parent also raising four children: Cody, 15; Jacob, 11; Wyatt, six; and John, four.

      Two of the homes lost in the fire belonged to Correctional Officers Riley Buford and Gillian Hoggard. Riley and his wife Staci, who have four children ages two to four, ran out the garage door and managed to drive their van through smoke and fire to get out. Both of these Correctional families lost everything that they owned

      The thoughts and prayers of all of us with the CPO Foundation nationwide are with the family and friends of those at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility who suffered these recent fatal and devastating losses. I also personally commiserate with their Correctional colleagues throughout the Colorado Department of Corrections.

      I have assisted Officers and families in need at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in the past, including fundraisers, and I will be back to do more to help the widows and children of Officers DeVore and Schwartz.

      I am always proud and pleased to be able to assist Correctional Personnel in my home state of Colorado and in the other Mountain States mentioned above to which I  travel on behalf of the CPO Foundation.

May God bless all of our Correctional Brothers and Sisters and their Families!

Robert Wright

robert_9411@msn.com

Robert Wright