{"id":22944,"date":"2020-05-17T14:59:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T20:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=64663"},"modified":"2020-05-17T14:59:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T20:59:47","slug":"local-officials-voice-concern-as-covid-19-brings-extra-hazards-to-fire-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/local-officials-voice-concern-as-covid-19-brings-extra-hazards-to-fire-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Local officials voice concern as COVID-19 brings extra hazards to fire season"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/firemanagement-atd-072018-2-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/firemanagement-atd-072018-2-2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/firemanagement-atd-072018-2-2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Members of the Carson Hotshots work the northern edge of the Lake Christine Fire in July 2018.<\/strong><br \/><em>Mike McMillan, Lake Christine Fire PIO\/Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As Pitkin County\u2019s emergency manager, Valerie MacDonald has been fully immersed in the area\u2019s response to COVID-19 for two months, but recent warm, dry and windy days also have caught her attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re entering the, historically, most hazardous time of the year, with wildfires, flooding and debris flows,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to be prepared for that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local governments, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management each implemented fire restrictions in April in an attempt to prevent further taxing first responders and firefighters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe last thing we need right now, with COVID-19, is a wildfire,\u201d MacDonald said, noting that crews have to congregate to effectively fight fires. If even one firefighter has the coronavirus, the disease could spread rapidly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOur bench is not that deep; we cannot afford to have that happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Wildland firefighters with the Upper Colorado River Fire Management Unit, a combined fire organization for the Forest Service and BLM that covers the White River National Forest, have made changes in light of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Lathan Johnson, a manager with UCR, said it is moving to radio briefings and virtual briefings. But wildland firefighting is a hazardous job, and trying to be mindful of social distancing guidelines adds an extra hurdle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous job. We spend a lot of time focusing on safety and risk management, trying to keep folks healthy,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an added thing on top of that for everybody to work through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson noted that firefighters are often close together on an active fire \u2014 bringing in hoses or digging fire lines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPre-COVID, you\u2019re far enough apart to not hit each other with tools, but you\u2019re still closer than that 6 feet,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt is something that folks are going to have to focus on and be vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So far, the UCR unit has not had a positive case of COVID-19. The team is developing contingency plans and protocols to plan for cases. But there isn\u2019t a system for testing in place and many firefighters are still living in bunkhouses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel like we have to still provide housing,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cA lot of our seasonal, entry-level jobs \u2014 that bunkhouse is kind of a make-or-break deal. A lot of these folks can\u2019t afford to live in some of these mountain communities without that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said wildland firefighters across the country are working together to share information and best practices, mostly through a website called Wildland Fire Lessons Learned. Firefighters share experiences and ideas, such as a recent post about how a fire unit in Michigan responded to a crew member\u2019s COVID-19 diagnosis by tracing contacts and encouraging exposed team members to get tested.<\/p>\n<p>Wildland firefighting uses a national system that dispatches and moves resources \u2014 including firefighters and the specialized equipment they use \u2014 across the country to respond to the most dangerous and pressing fires. That presents an additional risk of potential exposure to COVID-19 as fire crews travel across the country and set up camps in new communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re taking precautions to be sure everyone\u2019s aware and taking this seriously so we\u2019re not compounding any COVID issues out there,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>EVACUATION CENTERS LOOK DIFFERENT IN COVID ERA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If a large wildfire caused evacuations in Pitkin County, MacDonald said the county would typically work with the American Red Cross to set up evacuation centers for affected residents. During the Lake Christine Fire, the Red Cross set up a shelter at Basalt High School.<\/p>\n<p>But this year, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t do that,\u201d said Courtney Strother, a disaster program manager for the Red Cross in western Colorado. Traditional evacuation shelters in gyms or large cafeterias make social distancing \u2014 and limiting the spread of disease \u2014 challenging.<\/p>\n<p>In light of COVID-19, Strother said the best option is to evacuate residents to hotels. Red Cross volunteers across the region are reaching out to hotels to inquire about availability through the fire season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re currently optimistic that hotels would be a good option,\u201d Strother said. \u201cThere are a lot of vacancies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It might also be possible to use dorms at nearby colleges or cabins at campgrounds that still provide private areas for evacuees. Strother said the Red Cross also is developing plans in case a congregation shelter such as a gym is the only option.<\/p>\n<p>MacDonald said citizens need to do their own planning ahead of fire season, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe definitely want people to take advantage of this time at home,\u201d she said. \u201cWith all the extra time everyone\u2019s got, be planning. Be working on their emergency plan: What are their evacuation routes? What would they take? What\u2019s their communication plan with their family?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People also can work on wildfire mitigation near their homes by clearing brush and other flammable materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody\u2019s worried about the fire when there\u2019s smoke in the air, but a little bit of planning and mitigation on the front end goes a long way,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n<p><em>Aspen Journalism is a local, nonprofit and investigative news organization that collaborates with The Aspen Times and Aspen Public Radio on coverage of environmental issues. For more, go to aspenjournalism.org.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/local-officials-voice-concern-as-covid-19-brings-extra-hazards-to-fire-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Members of the Carson Hotshots work the northern edge of the Lake Christine Fire in July 2018.Mike McMillan, Lake Christine Fire PIO\/Courtesy photo As Pitkin County\u2019s emergency manager, Valerie MacDonald has been fully immersed in the area\u2019s response to COVID-19 for two months, but recent warm, dry and windy days also have caught her attention. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 07:03:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}