Lower North Fork Fire & Prescribed Fire Review

To answer your question SC, it looks like Fire Chief McLaughlin has started the ball rolling. Talking to residents about mitigation.

Agree akilina. A lot of people don't really care to mitigate. Or if they do, they think it is too hard. What I have found the most helpful is to talk with neighbors and offer to help them. Ask them to contact the fire department as they will come on site and offer concrete suggestions.

Even though we know a home might not withstand a crowning fire, we mitigate so that family will have a chance at leaving, getting out safely. We remove trees that are next to the driveway. But the fire department will tell you this. Talk to them.

What I would really like is for Road and Bridge to remove the smaller trees that are on the sides of the road in the right of way. Getting to the main road on the only tertiary road out will be a challenge. We need the county to do their part.

Have some more, but worked hard today moving more dirt. Too tired. Will try again another time. In the meantime I look forward to other comments and recommendations to moving from talk to action.

As for the huge disconnect, I feel the impacted homeowners pain. They go to a town hall meeting and while there is some addressing of the homeowners it was a rah-rah we did good. Not exactly what you want to hear when you have lost everything.

While I did not see it that way, I can understand those who do.

I believe that there is a lot more investigation to be done here.

I do not believe there is a simple one source cause of this tragedy.

Maybe I am totally wrong, but I believe that it is too early to be attempting to place blame on any single individual or organization until more actual facts are known.

I prefer to try to learn from what happened, so that we can work to prevent it from happening again, and how to better handle similar situations in the future.

I don't have any blinders on. I listened to this thing from almost the beginning.
The information is incomplete. I have no reason to doubt the information that has been presented.
The purpose of the Bass report was to ascertain what caused the fire. It did that.
You want to hang on the fact that there was no patrol on Sunday. They patrolled on Saturday. They patrolled on Monday and found the burn in exactly the same state it was on Saturday. What would a Sunday patrol have told them?
Otherwise, if you READ the report, it states that they had done everything required by the current protocols that they were required to do.
Were the protocols flawed?.....possibly.
The purpose of the Jeffco Sheriff's report was to determine whether or not there was criminal liability in their actions.If you READ it in it's entirety, it is clear that their was no criminal intent or action.
There are additional investigations yet to come.
I am not the one with blinders here. My mind is open to seeking the truth. Not a truth manufactured from a lot of rumor, innuendo, blogs or folks just talking in the Loaf and Jug parking lot or even here for that matter.
I am interested in the FACTS and the truth those facts lead us to.
When ALL investigations have been completed....then I will form an opinion and get behind those who deserve support and encouragement.

I have stated numerous times, but on PC and here.......the entirety of this fubarred fiasco is complete in it's spectrum of players.....there is NO ONE person/agency responsible. It is the sum of the WHOLE that I am outraged about. Why wasn't the 911 system EVER tested for accuracy? WHY wasn't an ABUNDANCE of CAUTION used during an extremely high wind event that was for
the most part an anomaly? WHY didn't the callers to 911 take a more AGGRESSIVE approach and demand escalation of the issue,ask
to speak to a supervisor/someone who could make executive decisions on the spot/WHY did most wait to be told what to do? WHY
were outdated schematics/maps/platts being used? WHOSE major job responsibility was that piece of the equation? A to Z this fiasco
fall on EVERYONE'S SHOULDERS.....JMO......(and it will happen again, because in this MODERN world, it is the usual M.O. to be complacent and NOT think out of the box.)JMO(sorry for the break in text, in preview it looked fine.)

Sorry SC, it looks like the above don't really want to talk about how we can bring this from talk to action.

Hey Becky and jf1acai there is more to be investigated. But in the meantime there are many things already present to talk about. So take the moral high ground which I find laughable considering how much you provide opinion on everyone and everything else. The Sunday issue has been addressed elsewhere. There were lots of screwups and they are going to be discussed.

More power to the people affected who have sued CSFS sorry butts for their negligent behavior. And there will be more who do the same. And it won't just be CSFS and Denver Water, it will more than likely include Jeffco Sheriff, dispatch and our fire districts. The perfect storm had a lot of screw ups. Do not underestimate the people of Conifer. Some people sit and bit$h and do nothing and some people act. Conifer falls into the latter. You want to see change, this is how we will see some major changes take place.

Now about moving from talk to action.

I realize that since there are lawsuits filed that it would be in the best interests of those being sued not to talk to any of the plaintiffs. But there are things that could be done. Intercanyon and Elk Creek F.D. could talk to residents in the area that are currently in Intercanyon who live at the end of Kuehster and ask them if they would like to move into that district. Get their feedback. People do much better when they asked rather than told. I can clearly see the merits of that segment being in Elk Creek rather than Intercanyon but I don't know all the circumstances.

When F.D. come out to do an assessment for the homeowner share with them and engage them in helping to decide what needs to be done. When the 2nd in command for Platte Canyon is rude and says to a neighbor that they will just ram right through fencing without providing all the background, he does nothing to elicit support. When someone calls in a smoke and the F.D. comes and the 2nd in command from Platte Canyon says yes, yes, call it in but then turns around and makes fun of the Reporting Party on Hi Meadow to the other firefighters when he thinks he isn't being watched he does a disservice to F.D. In short, the F.D. needs to be professional and solicit support of the residents in their district.

The County Commissioners need to see that roads that are part of the public right of way are wide enough for two vehicles to use and for a fire truck to be able to turn around. Park County has a lot of tertiary roads that are too narrow and the culdesacs not wide enough to get firetrucks turned around. And as already mentioned the sides of the roads need to be mitigated. Remove all ladder fuels and cut the limbs of big trees up to 10 ft.

The biggie for me is that no one in the county has checked to see that natural gas lines are buried to the depth they should be. Go watch sometime and you will see that they are not being buried properly. This poses a risk to everyone trying to use the main, secondary and tertiary roads to exit.

Have an alternate exit plan and a plan to stay at your home or elsewhere and defend if safe. You just might not be able to get out if there has been a natural gas explosion, the fire has consumed the road, a vehicle is blocking the exit, like on tertiary roads where there is only room for one car or even main roads that are jammed.

Most importantly, after you have done everything to mitigate to insure the likelihood of a safe exit, rely on no one but yourself and make judgments accordingly. Do not wait for the F.D., the Sheriff's dept. etc. If you have a family member with a disability or elderly or needs assistance or children have a plan that doesn't rely on the F.D. or the Sheriff's Dept. They will likely be too busy to assist in a major disaster. Teach that person how to manage if they are all alone and no one is available to assist. This one, is what I have learned from this fire. I know that I have survival skills and can help my family, but it will only work if I am present. What has hit home is that I won't always be there, I am gone a lot and while there are other adults in the family to rely on, they might not be available either. Every individual regardless of age and ability has to know that they can work as a team when there are others but they must also rely on themselves to make the best decisions to save themselves.

Hey Becky and jf1acai there is more to be investigated. But in the meantime there are many things already present to talk about. So take the moral high ground which I find laughable considering how much you provide opinion on everyone and everything else. The Sunday issue has been addressed elsewhere. There were lots of screwups and they are going to be discussed.

LOL on the moral high ground statement.

My opinion is just that....my opinion.
You, on the other hand represent your opinion as fact. hmmm

Here is an interesting case where local landowners won a suit against the State.

I am not suggesting that there are any parallels with the Lower North Fork Fire, but I think the recommended learning items are applicable.

BASICALLY, it's called C.Y.A. with extensive documentation.........(first rule of thumb when working in/dealing with multiple agencies/people.) I've just been thru the medicare maze (this year)AND pension execution agencies. Talk about a cluster'f....!
It was ONLY because I documented EVERY contact with date,time complete name of person spoken to AND the brief conversation
with that person......THAT habit has pulled me out of MULTIPLE headaches with above agencies.....after reading the link,it is quite
probable that the case cited COULD BE a legal basis for the present cases that will be pending......JMO......it will be EXTREMELY
interesting to watch this unfold to it's FULLEST potential.

Have to agree it should be interesting. CSFS opened themselves up to all kinds of troubles by failing to use due care in evaluating the situation on Sunday in view of all the weather warnings given.