Rotary Gram
Durango
High Noon Rotary Club
March
27, 2003
"I
hope all who see this very special video will never forget the summer of
2002."
Chief
Mike Dunaway, Durango Fire & Rescue
Jeff opened the meeting, announcing that
the Kiwanis Club would join us for the day's presentation. He asked Bob Griffith to give the invocation
and to lead us in the pledge.
Guests were introduced, including:
Joy
Mathis
Larry
Woodson
Butch
Knowlton
Dan
Noonan
Rob
Coddington
Marla
Behr
Announcements
PE Chessa's new Board: Chessa
reminded those interested in serving on her Board to meet later in the day and
that there was that first of two Rotary Leadership Conferences the following
weekend.
Program
Without further business, Jeff introduced
Joy Mathis to present the day's program.
Joy, a Registered Nurse, has a long career in the critical care of
cardiac patients and in the pacer industry.
She has a record of public service the envy of many Rotarians, including
ASA, ARC, SJMA, AHA and DCAT.
April is Wildfire Prevention and Education
month. Joy Co-Produced and Directed the
video, After the Fire. Last August, Joy
asked officials what we were going to face 'after the fire' that were the
biggest concerns. Together with Butch
Knowlton and Jeanne Costello, they spent numerous hours interviewing and
filming people and places in La Plata County, gathering information about the
threat to come.
Fire mitigation is the key, including the
creating of defensible space, so that it is safe for firefighters to come in
and work to save structures.
Joy introduced Dan Noonan, Deputy Chief,
Durango Fire and Rescue and he discussed his department's efforts at
Prevention, Education and Response. He
likened a child falling from a bike without a helmet to homeowners not clearing
properly around their homes in high fire risk areas. More people build closer and deeper into the forest and he asked,
"What are your waiting for", in terms of making your home safer.
Butch Knowlton said that the Missionary
Ridge fire was the greatest natural disaster since man settled this
territory. He thanked the community for
it's support of the efforts of all those involved in fighting the fires last
summer.
With these comments serving as an
introduction, the members and Kiwanians watched the video, After the Fire, with
a Q & A session to follow.
Statistics presented included the cost of
the fire at $40 million, with 70,000 acres and 56 homes burned. In the September 8th mud slides, another 10
homes were damaged, with hundreds more threatened.
The forest was already stressed from 4
years of drought, very dense and relative humidity at 3-4%. Even with the intensity and size of the fire
it was estimated that 20% of the area affected remained unburned.
The fire created great columns of fire and
at day's end it the columns would collapse and ignite areas 4 or mile
away. Forest Service people called it a
crown fire, where everything is killed and they are uncertain how the forest
will recover. In many places there were
continuous fuel layers from the 'duff' on the ground to dead limbs and brush at
the base of the trees.
Duff protects the ground from run
off. Without it, water treatment plants
become plugged. Witnesses to the mud
slides said they sounded like a freight train or a jet engine. In normal years, runoff is made up of 80%
water and 20% suspended debris. After
the fire, the numbers were reversed, with the flows consisting of 80%
debris. 100's of thousands of tons of rock
and debris moved through canyons at high speed and with overwhelming force.
According to consulting geologists, much
of the soil is now hydrophobic and all most all of the water runs right
off. As little as 1" of rain can
cause a slide, especially if the soil has been previously pre-loaded
(saturated) by smaller amounts of rain.
Debris flows are expected for the next 3-5 years.
Unfortunately, wild fires are a relatively
common occurrence. It is important to
remove what is necessary to create spacing between the crowns of trees. Do the work now!
Signs are posted on the 50 miles of county
roads that border the fire-affected areas, that warn motorists of the danger of
mud and debris slides.
Officials said that they are
prepositioning equipment to deal with future mud and debris, when they expect
rain. We have already seen flows up to
8" in depth across county roads.
Do not use roads in affected areas when rain is predicted.
If you have questions about your property,
seek advice from qualified engineers and hydrogeologists. Contact the Red Cross for advice on
readiness, including what to pack and have ready if you have to leave in 10
minutes. Get out as soon as you can if
you are in a threatened area and do not attempt to drive through water running
across a road. If you are trapped, find
high ground and stay there until the threat has passed.
The National Weather Service is prepared
to issue storm-specific warnings and is equipping homes at risk with receivers
to receive these warnings. There may be
some time between events, but don't let that make you complacent if you live in
an affected area.
The film was dedicated to all those who
fought the fire, locally and from far away, and especially to Alan Wyatt, who
lost his life.
Comments from the Q & A session
included:
To get your property evaluated for risk,
call the State at 247-5250.
A half million cubic yards of debris is
predicted to come out of the Stevens Creek drainage.
1,000's of acres of pinion are dead,
totaling fire behavior should it occur.
All are strongly encouraged
to get the dead trees removed.
Fires jump and run, protect around your
home.
There were 161 fire starts during the
Missionary Ridge fire that were not made known to the public.
Clear away anything that can burn within
5' - 10' around your home.
Dead timber in the forest is drier than
wood in the lumber yard.
Deputy Noonan thanked those present
again for their support and all the 1,827 fire personnel that came to La Plata County.
Jeff thanked Joy and the officials for
their presentation and adjourned the meeting.
Coming
Up
Apr 3 Governor Bill Owens
Apr 10 Alexii Carey, Trip to Cuba, at the Rec Center
Apr 17 Dr. Heddington-Insights to Balding
Apr 24 Open
May 1 Mexican Food Fiesta
www.southwestcoloradofires.org
John
E. Marshall
3005
County Road 207
Durango,
CO 81301
970-259-6248
p
970-259-4498
f