Many in the West End know Brent Garber. He’s responsible for starting the Bucktail Fire in August of 2024, which burned more than 7,000 acres. He was sentenced in July of 2025, receiving multiple fines and community service. The Forum reached out to Garber in the last few years to get a comment. Last week, he contacted the Forum and was ready to go on record.
His version of the past
Garber said it’s true that he was court-ordered to euthanize his dog Rocket, a pit-bull mix he’d had for more than seven years, since it was a puppy. He said he also thought the order to put the dog down was unfair.
He admitted the dog had been in trouble in Naturita before. Garber received a few animal control tickets there and was supposed to keep a muzzle on the dog. In Nucla, the dog had gotten into a fight with another smaller dog, though Garber said Rocket wasn’t outwardly aggressive, and reacted only when provoked.
He said he did use a retractable leash.
He said after the Nucla incident, he was given two weeks to euthanize Rocket. He said Municipal Judge Tom Loczy suggested he get it done and adopt a different dog.
“Seven and half years, and I’m supposed to take him out and go get me another dog?” Garber asked the Forum in the March 14 interview.
He added if he or the dog were caught in town not having followed that court order, he was supposed to spend 60 days in jail.
Garber complied, and Rocket was euthanized in Norwood in late July 2024. Garber told Montrose County Sheriff’s Deputies and the animal control officer that he wanted the body back.
“He was like my kid,” he told the Forum.
How the fire started
Garber said it’s true he wanted to have a funeral for the dog.
“I knew it was dry up there,” he said, referring to land up 25 Mesa Road, where he was residing, “but it was a total accident. That day was the worst day of my life.”
Garber said he’d previously started digging an underground house for himself, on what he thought was his friend’s property. When he figured out he was not within the property boundary, he stopped. Still, the hole existed.
When officials returned Rocket’s body, Garber wanted to take it to the hole and have a burial there. He put him in a “green garden cart,” but a wheel came off. He went to town to have the wheel fixed. Garber said he has a bad arm and had trouble lifting the corpse.
He said Rocket’s body was decaying in the August heat, and the flies were getting out of hand. He poured a bag of lime on the deceased dog, and sprayed fly spray on the body, since he bought two cans of fly spray in town when he got the wheel fixed that day.
The flies were unstoppable though, which upset Garber. He admitted it was an emotional day.
“I didn’t want the flies on him,” he said. So, he made a fire in the hole that he’d previously dug. He threw wood inside, and had it burning pretty good, he said, down in the ground, with the dog in it.
But, he made a bad choice. He threw a can of fly spray down in the pit. He said Rocket never really liked loud noises, and the dog would bolt if he heard a loud “bang.” Garber threw the can on, to send the dog “out with a bang.” He compared it to having a 10-gun salute.
He started to walk back to his four-wheeler, but turned around and then saw a second fire. He could see his original fire burning in the hole, but the explosive can had been ejected and started another fire. Garber went back up the hill to contain the second fire with a shovel.
“All I could figure, it blew the bottom off the can — blew it out, and it landed in the worst place it could ever have landed,” he said. “I fought it a half hour, almost had it out.”
Garber said it was hot. The fire then jumped some big logs, and he was running around it trying to contain it. He said when it started up a tree, though, he knew it was over. He got on his four-wheeler and went to town.
He went to a friend’s house and confessed, and on the way there, he passed West End Commander Bruce Schmalz.
Garber said he knew Schmalz was on the scene and handling it.
Almost two years later
What’s life been like for Garber since then?
He said it’s been “different.” He said he’s got a new place to live. He decided at age 65 he was getting too old to spend another winter in the woods. Not having a dog helped him secure a rental more easily.
He said he doesn’t think he will ever get another dog.
“I seriously doubt it,” he said. “It’s too much. I think sometimes I think more of dogs than I do people.”
He’s still working on paying his fines. He said he owes the Town of Nucla and others, and he’s working out a deal with “the collections lady."
He’s not yet started his community service, but he said he will. He aims to work with Hoof & Paw animal shelter. His probation officer wants to see him take care of his restitution first, he said.
Going forward
“It was a mistake,” Garber told the Forum. “I wished it wouldn’t ever have happened. It was my fault, and I wish I never would’ve set it.”
At the same time, Garber said he takes issue with municipal courts. He said in town court, judges know that the accused can’t afford an attorney. He said it seems like sometimes people are at the mercy of the court, and judges can decide whatever they wish.
“Can they kick someone out of town?” he asked.
He said things got too tense between him and the judge. He said sometimes he felt targeted.
To the people of the West End, he said he is sorry.
“If I wanted to be famous, that would not be the way I would have done it,” he said. “It was an experience, and not a good one.”
