Glenn M. Levy, Fire Chief. Timberline Fire Protection District.  In the vast majority of our incidents, it is you trying to get ahold of us. However, there are several incidents each year that demand that we contact you. The difficulty in many areas of the Timberline Fire Protection district is being able to contact you to provide critical information. The lack of consistent cell phone and internet coverage are significant barriers in our ability to contact you to provide emergency notification. This in turn increases the complexity of an emergency and makes it more difficult for your emergency responders to control an incident. Remember, the safety of you and our responders is always our first priority.

There are any number of reasons why your emergency responders might need to contact you; fires, accidents, road closures, flooding, and law enforcement actions. When notified, it is important that you follow the directions provided. You would be surprised by how many people either delay or refuse to evacuate. It is our goal to always give you enough reaction time to safely evacuate and with the least amount of stress. We know how difficult this can be and want to give you the time to take care of your family, property and animals.

Our topography, narrow roads, limited egress and family separations make evacuation extremely difficult. We know it takes the average family about 45 minutes to recognize the risk, believe the risk is real, decide what are the most critical personal items to take, load up your vehicle, and leave the area.  Here are a few tips:

Plan places where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood. Use email, text, and social media to communicate with family members when phones don’t work. Living in the mountains makes developing a communication plan critical. I recommend you make a plan that includes meeting in Idaho Springs, Denver, and Boulder because you never know which is the best way to leave.

If you have a car, I recommend you always keep a half tank of gas in case of an unexpected need to evacuate. I often joke that I need to go get gas just to go get gas. Gas stations may be closed, out of fuel, or have long lines during emergencies. Plan to take one car per family to reduce congestion and delay.

Become familiar with alternate routes and other means of transportation out of your area. Many subdivisions in both Boulder and Gilpin Counties have only one way in and one way out.

Leave early enough to avoid being trapped. Also, check on your neighbors or those who may not be able to easily evacuate.

It is difficult to have predetermined evacuation routes. The type of incident, the weather, and location will determine the best route. Do not take shortcuts as they may be blocked.

Be alert for road hazards such as washed-out roads or bridges and downed power lines. Look for emergency vehicles.

If you don’t have a car, please make sure that we know of your situation way in advance of any incident. Contact my office and we’ll put you on a list that we can reference during an evacuation or hazardous condition. We will make every effort to make sure you are safe, notified, and if needed, evacuated.

Create an emergency kit that contains all prescribed medications and a list with the prescription information if the medications are not in the original containers.

Make winter and summer emergency evacuation kits with food, water and hygiene items.

Make a list of your most critical personal items and papers. Don’t wait for “the call” to decide.

Take your pets with you as well as their food and medications. We are lucky to have an animal response team available that specifically deals with evacuating and sheltering animals. If you are unable to evacuate your animals, contact the 911 dispatch center and every effort will be made to get them removed from harm.

Leave a note on your door with emergency contact information.

If time allows:

Call or email family members and tell them where you are going.

Secure your home by closing and locking doors and windows and again, please leave a note for us. Law enforcement will secure the area and do everything possible to keep your home and belongings safe.

Unplug electrical equipment such as radios, televisions and small appliances.

Leave freezers and refrigerators plugged in unless there is a risk of flooding. If there is damage to your home and you are instructed to do so, shut off water, gas and electricity before leaving.

Wear sturdy shoes and clothing that provides some protection such as long pants, long-sleeved shirts and a cap.

Check with neighbors who may need a ride.

I strongly recommend that you register all of your phones with the appropriate county so you will receive any emergency notifications.

In Gilpin County, you can register your phones on the Code Red system by going to the Gilpin County Sheriff’s web site at www.gilpincountysheriff.com and click on the “Code Red Emergency Notification Sign Up”

In Boulder County, you can register your phones on theEverbridge system by going to www.boulderoem.com then click on Emergency Messages Sign-up. Also, keep checking Timberline’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TimberlineFPDand our Timberlinefire.com web page for updates.

Your Timberline firefighters treat all emergencies aggressively, especially ones we feel will stretch our resources. We will be calling our neighboring agencies early, so there will be a lot of vehicles coming in to help. The better the access and the fewer resources we need to commit to evacuation will help us to get you home as soon as possible. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me at glevy@timberlinefire.com, call my office at 303-582-5768, or my cell at 719-310-5840.

My next article will be about the difficulties many of us are now having in obtaining insurance on mountain properties.