On Tuesday, April 29, the Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District (Carbondale Fire) will host a wildfire preparedness meeting at the station, 301 Meadowood Drive. There will be real-time Spanish interpretation available during the meeting.
Pablo Herr, the assistant fire chief at Carbondale Fire, has been with the agency for 15 years and volunteered with the Aspen Fire Department for 12 years before that.
Carbondale Fire hosts wildfire preparedness meetings each year ahead of “what we consider wildfire season,” said Herr, “which once was pretty distinctive here in the state of Colorado.” These days, he added, wildfires can occur year round. The 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County, for instance, ignited on Dec. 30 and resulted in the evacuation of about 35,000 people and two deaths.
“We want to address your concerns about what you can do to be ready and protect your home, your family and your community,” Herr told The Sopris Sun. “We don’t know when the wildfire will happen, but we want you to be ready.”
He said that there are steps people can take to make sure they “get in front of this stuff,” just in case. Hopefully, it doesn’t come down to it, but for people who aren’t prepared their personal response won’t be nearly as measured.
Herr said the April 29 meeting is a great opportunity to meet the people who are looking out for the community when it comes to emergency preparedness and response. Carbondale Fire Chief Rob Goodwin along with representatives from federal land agencies and local law enforcement are expected. Attendees will also learn about evacuation plans, and a representative from The Red Cross, which is tasked with organizing emergency shelters, will also be present.
Once the snow starts to melt, larger-scale fire preparedness efforts get underway, such as prescribed burns. That’s when the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and local departments, like Carbondale Fire, coordinate burning certain areas to create breaks should a wildfire spread there.
“We understand that we are really at nature’s whim; we can only remove the fuel,” said Herr. “We can’t control the weather. We can’t control the topography.”
Local fire departments will send someone to your home to conduct a wildfire assessment to determine whether it is up to snuff. “And the cost is free,” added Herr. People can visit the Roaring Fork Wildfire Collaborative’s website (www.rfvwildfire.org) to sign up for an assessment; alternatively, they can call their local fire department.
Speaking to the equitable access of the event, Herr said that the department wants “to be very involved with our Latino population as well as Age-Friendly Carbondale. They’re very important to us.” Age-Friendly Carbondale is a local advocacy group that aims to create access for people of all ages and abilities.
Each person has their own unique situation and should have a plan that coincides with their needs. At this event, Carbondale Fire and other emergency responders can fill people in on the best approaches for folks under varying circumstances.
It’s better to have things in line in case of an emergency than to be unprepared and panicked. In the heat of the moment people who do not have a plan often forget to gather what matters and may grab superfluous items instead. Herr gave an example of a person who had been evacuated twice, the first time having run out of their home with a roll of stamps and the second time bringing their passport — neither being very useful under the circumstances. Having a prepared go-bag will prevent such a scenario.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that each person be prepared with 72 hours worth of essential supplies — including food and water.
People can submit questions prior to the meeting online at www.bit.ly/WPM425 There will also be a Q&A session at the end of the meeting, which is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30pm.