Arvada Fire, Fairmount Fire Protection District urge voters to support proposed merger

Arvada Fire and the Fairmount Fire Protection District are urging voters to support a merger of the departments. Amber Oeltjenbruns with Fairmount Fire said district operations have become more difficult over the past several years. "Everything changed, right? We know that in the last several years, everything's gone up. That's no exception for our fire service. Our apparatus is more expensive, our supplies are more expensive," said Oeltjenbruns. Normally, it takes 17 firefighters to respond to a scene, according to the district. At any given time, Fairmount has seven and often has to rely on neighboring fire departments for help. "We're only able to give our community 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ambulance services," Oeltjenbruns said.
KMGH-TV ABC 7 Denver

Colorado spending $6.9 million to buy two firefighting helicopters and equipment

VIDEO: Helicopters are critical to fighting wildfires in Colorado. For years now, the state has contracted them to help fight fires. Now, Colorado is buying two Bell 205 helicopters so it doesn’t have to share resources with places like California and New Mexico. "Historically, Colorado has relied on an interstate pool of aircraft, and we have on occasion contracted or leased for a period of time aircraft that we can control," Democratic Governor Jared Polis said at a press conference in April. The governor and the head of the state fire agency held a press conference last month assuring everyone Colorado is more prepared for fires than ever. "We're shifting our resources to a model that allows us to respond more effectively to what is no longer just a wildfire season," said Mike Morgan, the head of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
KUSA-TV NBC 9 Denver

NCAR scientists look at Hawaii fire to better predict Colorado wildfires

VIDEO: When the Marshall fire swept through Boulder County, no one could have predicted its path of destruction, but researchers are working to develop tools that can. Timothy Juliano is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. Juliano and his team are studying a different fire to better understand what could happen here in Colorado. "We focused on the Lahaina fire which happened in Hawaii," Juliano said. Using advanced computer models, the researchers were able to simulate the wildfire that devastated the town of Lahaina. They replicated how the intense winds there whipped up a brushfire and drove flames into populated areas. "We learned that, first of all, downslope wind storms are really destructive," said Juliano. "If there is a an ignition that kind of correlates with a downslope windstorm, then that can just lead to really disastrous results."
KUSA-TV NBC 9 Denver

Driver safe after semi catches fire at Eisenhower Tunnel near Summit

PHOTOS: A trucker was able to jump out of a burning semi after it caught fire coming out the Eisenhower Tunnel Tuesday evening. “The driver managed to roll up the [I-70] runaway truck ramp and escape safely,” Summit Fire and EMS said in a social media post. Once safely out of the vehicle, the driver tried to put the blaze out himself, Summit County emergency responders said. “The driver tried to put out the fire with a couple of on-board extinguishers, but it had grown too quickly and even spread to some nearby vegetation,” Summit Fire wrote on Facebook. “Our c-shift crews and our Wildland Division (shaking the rust off their skills at an ideal time of year) backed by several from Breckenridge-based Red, White & Blue Fire and Mountain Recovery Towing, were able to stop the fire from spreading further and extinguish.”
KKTV CBS 11 Colorado Springs