Sierra Madre Fire Mitigation team holds public forum

More than 30 people attended the Sierra Madre Fire Preparedness meeting September 9 at the Encampment Opera House.

Lenny Layman, Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator, organized the meeting with several county and local entities as a panel to explain their coordination when and if there is a fire.

Layman said he decided to organize the panel because residents of Encampment were asking him questions about what happens if a fire breaks out in the Sierra Madre Range.

Layman believed the best way to serve the public was to bring them all together. The impressive panel had 15 heads from different organizations represented.

Their message was clear - be prepared. An event like a fire begins and ends with using local resources, Layman said, but it also includes personal responsibility.

Preparedness

How do you receive information?

AlertSense is a phone application people can sign up for which includes emergency alerts for wildfires, tornados, floods and extreme weather. People in the Carbon County area and some surrounding areas can sign up for the application at CarbonWY.MyFreeAlerts.com.

This application is used throughout the county to send emergency alerts based on a subscriber’s address and can be received by phone call, text message, application, email or pager.

People who may need help getting set up can call 307-324-2776 for help.

Layman explained that, in the case of fire, subscribers would get two messages. The first one is to be prepared for an evacuation and the second one is “evacuate now”.

Layman encouraged residents to talk to neighbors, friends and family to see if they are signed up for AlertSense. He also suggested a phone tree for people who may not have access to use the application or elderly people who need assistance when and if it is necessary to evacuate.

Staying home during an event means to be informed and prepared. For instance, Layman said, how long you can stay in your home without electricity or water.

Layman said once a person decides to shelter in place, he or she may not be able to evacuate later.

The reason behind an evacuation order may not be necessarily because of imminent danger, but because emergency personnel need to clear the roads for emergency equipment, Layman said.

Cory Nuhn, the fire chief for the Encampment Fire Department, said shelter in place is not the thing to do if there is a fire. If it is a blizzard then a person can shelter in place.

Layman said the school districts in the county have drills for preparedness for when they need to evacuate a building and that residents should be doing the same thing at home. He recommended a website, ready.gov, which explains how to prepare a plan to evacuate.

Nuhn said other reasons to evacuate may be a weather inversion during a fire or air quality for people who depend on oxygen.

Interconnect between Encampment and Riverside

Bill Acord, director of public works in Encampment, talked about the interconnect between Encampment and Riverside where water is shared between the two towns if something affects the water system in one of the towns. Encampment uses surface water and Riverside uses well water. The watershed in the Sierra Madres feeds the surface water in Encampment. Layman said he thought this was a great idea, so if a fire affects the watershed, Encampment can rely on Riverside’s water system and vice versa.

Stayton Mosby, director of South Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Services (SWEMS), recommended residents who have asthma or depend on oxygen should pay attention to the the Public Health website. Air quality during fires can affect these people and they may have to leave for one or several days.

John Rutherford, Carbon County Fire Warden, said “We are only as good as you are. Time is against us and it all starts with you.”

He recommended fire mitigation on private property, not just in the Sierra Madres, but in Encampment and Riverside by mowing down weeds and making sure the propane tanks do not have firewood or flammable items around them. Propane tanks are designed very well, Rutherford said, but people need to be aware not to have things that can raise the heat of the fire around them.

Alex Bakken, Carbon County Sheriff, said in emergencies his job is two-fold. One is communication and the other is to help facilitate evacuations. Bakken said that is why he is a proponent of a one dispatch system in the county, as communication can be spread faster.

Wyoming High Patrolman Caleb Hobbs referred to the fire near Hanna. “We had to shut off the power.” Once a town has been evacuated, residents cannot turn back to retrieve an item. “We’re not going to let you get your boat,” Hobbs said.

Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and Wyoming Game and Fish work as a support role for all the other entities. Timothy Morton said WYDOT closes roads, sets up staging areas and cleans up post fire.

Jason Armbruster, District Ranger of the United States Forest Service (FS), said they have spent the last several years doing timber sales in the Jack Creek Area. The FS has also been doing random acts of restoration and pod lines.

Next week’s article will explain what the FS has been doing for the last several years for fire mitigation.