Smoke Investigation.

Over the last week....we have heard many many fire ban violations over the scanner. Abandoned campfires and such.
Please continue to report any smoke or violations of our burn ban.
Better to be cautious than to lose another life.

Thanks for the friendly reminder. It is very much appreciated. Right now I am so pissed at fire dept in general that I am inclined to stop any watch for fire, until I consider that f.d. might do some things I don't approve of, but the point is to safe people's lives.

Came back to add that the Platte Canyon Fire Dept has an a$$hole who makes fun of people who call in smokes and they turn out to be permitted campfires etc. He always tells the homeowner to call but then turns around and makes fun of them with the other firefighters when he thinks he isn't being watched or heard.

Watched a video of this jerk who is high up in the chain of command. His unprofessionalism is uncalled for. The former homeowner who taped him has since moved away as they have zilch respect for this f.d.

Local law enforcement and fire departments do not have anywhere near enough personnel to watch for illegal burns and smoke everywhere in the area. It is imperative for citizens to watch for and report smoke, so that the situation can be checked out.

Don't get carried away folks- I did BBQ some St Loius style ribs last night and heard 4 smoke reports come over my scanner!

Check it out first.

If you can check it out safely and reasonably quickly, yes, do so.

If not, call it in so that it can be checked out.

Also, if you are doing something completely legal which produces a significant amount of smoke, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let the fire department know about it (on non emergency line of course).

jf1acai wrote: If you can check it out safely and reasonably quickly, yes, do so.

JF1, are you sure you want to give that kind of advise? I would not advise anyone to check it out. How do you know what is "safely". Just sayin. I would not want to see anyone get in harms way. Calling law enforcement first is always a better idea in my mind.

285 Mountain wrote: Calling law enforcement first is always a better idea in my mind.

No it's not- sorry but I have to dis-agree here. We don't need a bunch of fanatical do-goodies calling 911 a dozen times a day.

Use your heads folks! If it's during the day- make a reasonable effort to check it out before you pull the 911 trigger. The last thing we need is our fire departments tied up and worn out from 684 "I smell smoke" calls every day.

If it's at night- remember some of us are still using our wood stoves for heat.

Use some common sense.

Bear I respectfully disagree. We should not be giving advise on here. I don't think you should call 911 each time necessarily but the authorities are the best ones to call and ask what to do generally for next time. I don't think it is our place to say what to do it is theirs. Your average person does not have the background that you do.

Maybe Elk Creek should come on here and state their policy.

I'm quite sure that the local fire departments will say that people should call in all credible concerns- but that what they do not need is people out there over-reacting.

It is far more the normal condition up here to smell smoke- I smell it every single night in my neighborhood as my neighbors fire up their wood stoves. I'm not saying that people need to become firefighters- but take a look around before calling the authorities. If they have to respond to every "I smell smoke" call- they will start to get tired of this - and it may detract from a real fire call. While they are driving around looking for every smoke smell- other people may have real emergencies that require those same resources.

The number of times I smell smoke compared to the number of times a forrest fire has burned down my house.....

well - lets just say my house has been there since 1918.

Just use common sense- that's all I'm sayin.
"I smell smoke calls" are up by 10 fold in the last month- 99.9% of them are not a forrest fire.

mtntrekker wrote: Thanks for the friendly reminder. It is very much appreciated. Right now I am so pissed at fire dept in general that I am inclined to stop any watch for fire, until I consider that f.d. might do some things I don't approve of, but the point is to safe people's lives.

Came back to add that the Platte Canyon Fire Dept has an a$$hole who makes fun of people who call in smokes and they turn out to be permitted campfires etc. He always tells the homeowner to call but then turns around and makes fun of them with the other firefighters when he thinks he isn't being watched or heard.

Watched a video of this jerk who is high up in the chain of command. His unprofessionalism is uncalled for. The former homeowner who taped him has since moved away as they have zilch respect for this f.d.

That's unfortunate.

We have always been told to call them in, let the fire department make the decision. I do try to use good judgment though before calling it in.