B B F Staff Writer

Jason Hamburg knew something was amiss when the computer mouse he was using began to buzz and the walls of his offi ce shook.

Hamburg, a Jeff erson County Open Space park ranger, was in his offi ce near Elk Meadow in Evergreen on Monday a� ernoon when lightning from a fast-moving storm

struck the metal building he was in and destroyed a nearby gasoline storage tank.

“� ere was a fl ash-bang, and I backed away from the computer, and the building shook,” he said. “� e walls shook, and I was under the stairs.”

Hamburg said it was the worst storm he’d seen in seven years as a park ranger. He’s certain the building, which is only about yards from the tank, was hit more than once.

“It really got my blood pressure up,”

Hamburg said. At the same time, an Open Space

construction crew had arrived at the ranger’s residence and were about to park a truck and trailer. � ey decided to park near the tank, which contained unleaded gasoline used to fi ll fl eet vehicles.

Rex Burr was driving, and he and fellow construction workers Jeff Spires and Dale Sawin had decided to wait out the storm.

So they parked near the gas tank.

“We were sitting right here and saw it happen,” Burr said.

“We were right at the tank when the lightning hit and the lid fl ew off and fell near the truck,” Spires said.

Burr and crew knew Hamburg was somewhere on the property, and they called him on the radio to let him know his gas tank had exploded.

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATTHEW JONAS

| PHOTO EDITOR

Humphrey Museum names new exec director

A jolt from a bolt from the blue

Please see HUMPHREY MUSEUM, Page 11A

At right, Evergreen High School seniors Guilland Houston, le� , and Dylan Farris perform the song “For Good” during commence-ment ceremonies May at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Below, graduates celebrate a� er receiving their diplomas.

B V GStaff Writer

A former staff member of the Hiwan Homestead Museum has been named the new executive director and curator of the Humphrey House Museum on South Soda Creek Road.

Angela Rayne, executive director of the Houston Fire Museum since , is a former resident of Evergreen from to and the former executive director of the Denver Firefi ghters Museum. She starts her new job June .

“We are working on completely restruc-turing the museum from the top down,” said Rayne, who has big plans to turn the Humphrey Museum into a living-history education center and a year-round destina-tion.

Rayne has plans to re-create the gardens, bring back the animals, keep the museum open fi ve days a week, depict life on the ranch in the ‘s and ‘s, and teach classes in making soap, cleaning products, beer, pasta, quilting and beauty treatments. She will teach some classes herself.

Rayne has a master’s degree in anthropol-ogy/museum science from the University of Colorado and also worked for Clear Creek

Workers too close for comfort when lightning hits gasoline tank

Former Evergreen resident Rayne worked at Hiwan Homestead