There were more than 100 fire-related calls made from 1:51 p.m. until midnight on Monday, March 26.
One of those who called 911 was Sam Lucas. Sam and his wife, Linda Moaneti Lucas, were among the three people killed in the fire.
Sam Lucas: "Yes, this is Sam Lucas we live up in the foothills and we just got home and it looks like there's a fire at the foot of Cathedral Spires, there was-"
Dispatch: "Yes, that is a controlled burn. The [Colorado State] Forest Service is out there on scene."
Sam Lucas: "You know we've got 79 mile per hour winds up here and they've got controlled burns?"
Dispatch: "Yes."
Sam Lucas: "Oh, wonderful. Thank you."
Dispatch: "Uh-huh, bye."
Ann Appel's remains were also found over the weekend after search crews spent days looking for her.
One man, who survived, talked about the fire surrounding him as he sat in his driveway.
Dispatch: "Did you say your house is on fire?"
Caller: "It probably is. I'm in the pickup in the driveway. I'm probably in a safe spot because -"
Dispatch: "No, no, sir, I need you to get out."
Caller: "There's fire beyond me. I'm on the asphalt. The trees are all burned around me. I'm probably in a safe spot.
Dispatch: "So you can't get out?"
Dispatch: "Is there any fire around you right now?"
Caller: "Oh yeah, there's all around me. It's on the ground. The trees have no pine needles."
The calls became more panicked as the fire neared homes.
"You have to come now. We have a lot of fire," one caller said.
"Are we getting evacuated? It's so thick, the smoke, you can't even see," another caller said.
Caller: "I don't know what to do. What do I grab out of my house? Do I grab my valuables?"
Dispatch: "I would just grab essentials for right now and then go from there."
Caller: "Is it pretty contained?"
Dispatch: "You need to get going."
Others talked about people being trapped by the flames.
"My family is stuck at the end of Kuehster Road," one said. "There are people at the very end of Kuehster Road and they can't get out."
During the earlier calls, worried neighbors are heard telling dispatchers they see a fire and dispatchers tell them it is a prescribed burn.
Dispatch: "You're looking up and you see the fire?"
Caller: "Yeah, I see lots of smoke."
Dispatch: "Yeah, we've got a fire going."
Caller: "Is it close to us?"
Dispatch: "No. It's in the Pike National Forest. You're just seeing a lot of smoke from it."
The Colorado State Forest Service did set a prescribed burn the week before and it's believed that flared up and became the wildfire a few days later.
The fire damaged or destroyed 27 homes. At one point, 900 homes were evacuated, but authorities lifted the last evacuation order on Monday.
Many 911 callers told 9Wants to Know that dispatchers disregarded concerns that the fire was bigger than a controlled burn.
"If it's prescribed, it's way out of control," one caller said.
Many of the callers were confused as the fire continued to grow.
Caller: "How do I know if it's going to get bad?"
Dispatch: "We'd put out like, a notification, if it got that bad."
Jefferson County is investigating to see whether 911 callers should have been able to give callers more information before a mandatory evacuation order was issued at 5 p.m.
At one point a person called saying they got an order to evacuate, but did not think they were near the fire.
"We had something go wrong with our system. You do not need to evacuate," a dispatcher said.
Other calls had a similar theme. 9NEWS reported last week that many people got emergency notifications that were outside the evacuation area.
Caller: "It said mandatory evacuation."
Dispatch: "OK, yes, if you received the call, you need to leave the area."
Caller: "Really?"
Dispatch: "Yeah."
Caller: "Even though I'm nowhere near there?"
Dispatch: "Hmm."
Caller: "I'm on Kipling and 285."
Dispatch: "Oh, you're kidding."
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)