It doesn’t take a long time living in the mountains to experience an emergency and realize that the local heroes coming to our rescue need more help and resources. Between wildfires, blizzards, and floods, mountain communities are always at high risk.

According to a study conducted in 2022, about 40% of the state’s properties are at risk of wildfire damage, including total loss. Over 12% of all properties in the state have a chance greater than 26% of being affected by flooding.

That’s 173,820 property owners in the Colorado mountains who are guaranteed to repair or lose their homes to environmental damage, not including fires or snowstorms. One of Colorado’s biggest blizzards, in 2003, is a benchmark for how destructive snow can be.

The storm, lasting only three days, managed to drop 3 feet of snow in Denver and more than 7 feet in the foothills, including Gilpin County and Nederland. The storm’s damage included collapsed buildings, road closures, stranded trains and airplanes, trapped families, days of little to no water, electricity, or rescues, and $93 million in damage.

Animal and human lives were also part of the blizzard’s devastation. Unfortunately, even though Colorado residents were warned that the blizzard was coming, many still found themselves isolated or stranded. Imagine the help local communication could have provided, communication that doesn’t need internet, like ham radios.

Colorado is visually and spiritually stunning, but it’s no stranger to states of emergency, sometimes during which it can feel like we’re the forgotten ones when it can take too long for communication to reach the right people.

Licensed ham radio operators are what mountain communities need to better prepare for emergencies, get help to where it’s needed, and potentially save lives. Some of those lives include senior residents living alone.

On November 4 and 5,the Gold Hill School hosted a free ham radio licensing class, with instruction by long-time ham instructor George Weber. Weber is a board member of the Boulder County Amateur Radio Emergency Services, or BCARES.

Weber spent 30 years as a teacher, including teaching ham radio licensing classes for Boy Scouts, adults, and anyone willing to learn. He has also helped license 50 to 60 new ham radio operators since the 2013 Colorado floods.

Fifteen students from Jamestown, Ward, Nederland, Gold Hill, and Lyons showed up at 10 a.m. on Saturday to kick off the two-day course. After a weekend covering important information, students have a week to study before taking an exam and legally becoming licensed ham radio operators.

Becoming licensed means learning a lot of technical information, but the rewards make it worthwhile. The benefits include communicating over long distances without the internet, distributed electricity, or cell towers. Other perks include gaining a skill for a lifelong hobby that allows you to volunteer in emergencies, as well as giving the ham the opportunity to talk with other hams all over the world, learning about different cultures.

The goal of these free classes is to create a network of ham radio operators who can work with one another to protect our communities, from Allenspark to Nederland and beyond.

There are only a few locations in the Peak to Peak region with licensed antennas and repeaters, including the Gold Hill School.

There’s no need to own a radio or have prerequisite knowledge before taking a class. It’s very cost-effective to start a lifesaving hobby. Many amateur radio operators spend little to no money to get started, and the only cost for a licensing class is your time.

No matter how badly you want to help, federal law prohibits radio broadcasting without a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), even during emergencies. If you’d like to learn more about amateur radio or become a licensed ham radio operator, visit the websites below.

Look for updates on future free licensing classes and announcements at https://www.hamradioschool.com/ or https://www.fcc.gov/ or https:// bouldercountyares.org/