Fire Department Holds Town Hall Meetings to Inform Public on Upcoming Fire Season
Usually, the fire season in Colorado does not start until summer is closer. However, this year has already brought about weather conditions that have created high fire dangers across the state.
Due to low humidity levels and fierce, high-speed winds, El Paso and Teller Counties saw a number of wildfires ignite before the month of May. On April 22, several local news sources reported that the state was seeing the worst day for fire danger in a decade.
According to an article written in the Colorado Sun, officials have warned that 2022 could be the worst year for wildfires in state history. In fact, during a presentation on this year’s fire outlook, state officials announced they would be adding $20 million from federal funds to firefighting and prevention initiatives.
After the Marshall Fire near Boulder became the state’s most destructive wildfire late last year, residents across the state have been reminded of how devastating wildfires can be. Longtime residents who remember the area’s Black Forest and Waldo Canyon fires are extra motivated this year to be prepared for a vicious fire season.
Colorado Springs Fire Department Hosts Meetings
On April 21, the local fire department held its second of a series of 20 town hall meetings that will take place throughout the city. The purpose of the meetings is to inform the public about everything involved in wildfires and answer questions. The fire department has four more meetings scheduled for the month of May.
The town hall was led by the fire department’s Public Information Officer Sunny Smaldino and several other officials spoke about everything wildfire-related from evacuation procedures to reverse 911 notifications.
Smaldino started the meeting by talking about the history of wildfires in the city and how the department tracks fire dangers. Ashley Whitworth, the fire department’s Program Administrator for Wildfire Mitigation, then went through ways to properly mitigate properties to lower fire risk.
During the meeting, the officials stressed the importance of signing up for the area’s notification service. They had a table set up where people could sign up to be on the notification list. Click here to sign up for the notifications online.
Red Flag Warnings Explained
Smaldino discussed how the department determines fire danger by collecting fuels from two different locations every two weeks from April to October and every week when there is a burn restriction in place. Based on the moisture levels of the fuels, the city then determines how high of a danger exists and whether or not to put burn restrictions in place.
Smaldino then shared the definition of a red flag warning and explained how it was different than the fire danger the fire department calculates. “The red flag warnings are a weather thing and they have nothing to do with the fuel moistures in our shrubs,” Smaldino explained. “It has everything to do with weather. The National Weather Service tells us when a red flag warning happens. You are going to hear it on the news and media, and I am OK with them overstating the fire danger because for us it is always a risk.”
Fire Department Has Partnerships with Fort Carson and Other Entities
After an hour of presentations, fire department officials opened it up for questions from the public. One question from the audience about the Waldo Canyon Fire prompted Battalion Chief Steve Wilch to inform attendees about new partnerships that have formed between CSFD and local entities.
“We have intergovernmental agreements with the DOD, the federal parks, Pike National Forest, the state of Colorado, and the Department Of Fire Prevention And Control,” Wilch said. “We exercise mutual agreements on every fire that exceeds the local capabilities. We do have mutual partnerships that are already in place. They have been in place for decades and they get revisited every year or two making sure those contracts are still agreeable between the agencies. So we do work these partnerships, we have training manuals and best practices. We actually train for these fires so we bring them in during these training exercises. We don’t want to be working with them just when the event happens, so we train all year with them. I personally contact and work with Fort Carson. We go on base with them and fight some of their fires that occur on their base, and they come and help us.”
For the next few months, fire departments across Colorado will be working to keep the public informed about fire risks and prevention procedures. To learn more about wildfire preparedness visit https://www.coswildfireready.org/. To better prepare and plan for the fire season, consider reading up on planning and safety.
