Numerous Chaffee County public safety and public lands agencies hosted a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) community meeting in Poncha Springs on Tuesday evening.
Cindy Williams, co-lead of Envision Chaffee County, says Chaffee County is catalyzing a new approach. “Our CWPP we’re working on we call next generation. That means, for the first time ever in Colorado, we have community members doing it community up,” said Williams. “Nobody has ever done [this]. It’s always been that the agencies have pushed it down to the community.”
Jim Pitts, the U.S. Forest Service Salida Ranger, echoed Williams’ comments. “This is unprecedented,” said Pitts. “This amount of public outreach hasn’t been done [before].”
Phil Graham leads a discussion on community preparedness. Photos by Henry DeKam.
More than 60 members of the community were in attendance to hear representatives from the United States Forest Service (USFS), Chaffee County Fire, Salida Fire Department, Envision Chaffee County, Office of Emergency Management and Colorado State Forest Service speak. The new, collaborative approach from agencies throughout Chaffee County primarily focuses on community engagement and input.
The first step in this planning process was the Chaffee Wildlife Survey, conducted earlier this year. The survey gauged community awareness of wildfires, preparedness, and general wildfire knowledge.
According to the survey, Chaffee County residents understand that the threat of wildlife is legitimate. More than 80 percent of survey respondents indicated that they expect a major fire to occur in Chaffee County within the next five years.
However, the survey also exposed the reality that Chaffee County residents’ preparedness for a major fire does not reflect their concern. According to the survey, 40 percent of Chaffee County residents do not have an evacuation plan, and 44 percent don’t feel they could obtain vital information should a fire occur.
Members of the community who attended the meeting listened to a brief presentation from various agency representatives regarding survey results, and the ecological benefits of wildlife. Following the presentation, the crowd broke into smaller groups and rotated through three unique information stations: the Home Readiness station, Community Readiness Station, and the Forest Readiness station.
Colorado State Forest Service employees educate homeowners on wildfire home preparation.
The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) hosted the Home Readiness Station. They walked attendees through various actions homeowners can take to improve the resilience of their home during a wildfire.
CSFS Forester JT Shaver revealed that most homes that burn during a wildfire do so because of embers that land on or around the structure. “There are lots of things you can do that are not cutting down trees or picking up branches,” said Shaver.
Homeowners are encouraged to take actions that mitigate the chances of embers landing in or on an area that could combust. These actions include cleaning gutters and roofs of organic debris; storing woodpiles at least 30 feet from your house; cleaning debris from beneath decks; and cleaning limbs and thinning trees.
Those interested in scheduling an assessment of their residential property’s preparedness, and how to prepare effectively, should email Shaver at j.t.shaver@colostate.edu.
Phil Graham, director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), hosted the Community Readiness station. He emphasized how critical it is for residents to prepare themselves for an emergency.
“It’s important that you know how you’re going to get yourself out of a situation,” said Graham, pointing out that the sheriff’s department oversees evacuation procedures per Colorado statute. However, in the event of an emergency, the sheriff’s department could not handle the evacuation of large numbers of people due to limited personnel and resources.
“The biggest threat to our community is complacency,” said Graham. “My job is to prepare the community, but we need your help in that you need to prepare yourselves.”
Graham suggests that every family have an evacuation plan for cases when their home is threatened. He acknowledged that homeowners associations are a great conduit for installing evacuation plans and preparing neighborhoods for emergencies.
Graham said that he will personally speak to and visit neighborhoods around the county to help them prepare. OEM will also facilitate an emergency evacuation drill for any neighborhoods that wish to participate.
“We have tons of resources, tons of experience, and the ability to come help people prepare,” said Graham. “[We] can help you prepare.”
Those homeowners or neighborhoods interested in getting prepared can request a visit by Graham, who can be contacted at pgraham@chaffeecounty.org.
Chaffee County’s emergency notification system, Everbridge, is another critical component of emergency preparedness.
According to the Chaffee Wildlife Survey, nearly half of Chaffee County is not enrolled in Everbridge. This means, during an emergency, those individuals and homes will not receive alerts and notifications featuring critical information.
Those who are signed up can receive phone calls, texts and emails regarding emergency alerts. Sign up by visiting the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department website.
The OEM’s Emergency Operations Center says that, should communications services fail, as they did during the Weston Pass fire last summer, Everbridge will remain operational. After last year’s fire, the OEM’s Emergency Operations Center was outfitted with communications equipment to remain operational in the event of network loss.
The third readiness station– Forest Readiness — highlighted the purpose of controlled burns and sought input on how to better notify the public of controlled burn activity. USFS Fire Manager Chris Nacarrato engaged attendees in discussions on controlled burns and their benefits. These burns never occur on a whim and are backed by an extensive authorization and planning process.
“We don’t just light a match and leave it,” said Nacarrato, pointing out that the process can take up to two years from concept to implementation. “It’s a very complex process.”
Reasons for prescribing a controlled burn include wildlife habitat management, post-timber-sale cleanup and forest health improvement. Members of the community suggested ways the USFS could improve its communication with residents regarding controlled burn activities. Education on controlled burns and notification of burning activities were the most prevalent suggestions.
Currently, the USFS uses electronic signage (like the signs located on Trout Creek Pass and Monarch Pass) to notify of prescribed burns. Social media and radio announcements are other tools the USFS uses for notifying the public. Ultimately, this groundbreaking approach to creating the CWPP rests on the community’s willingness to participate. The Wildfire Survey and Tuesday’s meeting are a great start.
“By doing this together, we think we can create something here that nobody has created before,” Williams said. “If any place can do it, Chaffee County can. What we’re seeing is communities all over the west are looking at Chaffee County because there’s something cool going on here.”
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