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For Immediate Release
View the most recent Press Releases.
PUBLIC INFORMATION LINE: 303-413-7737 FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
Updated: 09/10/10
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emergency Operations Center, 720-564-2935
Boulder County, Colo. - Earlier today, Boulder County officials announced the reopening of the following subdivisions and streets that were previously closed due to the Fourmile Canyon wildfire:
· Boulder Heights
· Pine Brook Hills
· Carriage Hills
· Olde Stage Road
· Lee Hill Drive
· Sunshine Canyon and Fourmile Canyon drives to Poorman Road (including Poorman Road)
· Gold Hill Road to Switzerland Trail (Switzerland Trail remains closed)
· Sugarloaf Road with limited access to the north (Mountain Meadows is open)
· Lefthand Canyon Drive with restricted access from the south.
Boulder County officials are requesting that residents do not park on the roadway and to drive carefully as fire apparatus are traveling to and from the active fire area.
PLEASE NOTE: Residents must stay on alert and be ready to re-evacuate immediately if conditions change. Residents of the area are asked to bring personal identification. Power will remain off in these areas.
The remaining evacuated areas remain highly volatile and therefore residents cannot return to their homes. Stay tuned to www.boulderoem.com and local media outlets for updated evacuation information.
Boulder County, Colo. – The official Boulder County donation drop-off site will open at 7 p.m. today at 3111 28th St. so that community members can drop off donation items for victims of the Fourmile Canyon wildfire. The drop-off site will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily until further notice.
The following items will be accepted:
Please only bring items listed. Home-canned or packed foods, perishable items, bottled water, heavily used or dirty clothes will NOT be accepted.
Adventist Community Services is managing the donation site.
People with questions about donations or volunteer opportunities are asked to dial 211 or call 866-760-6489.
Please do not drop off donations at local fire facilities.
Updated: 09/09/10
Boulder County, Colo. – Because of worsening weather predictions that have increased the potential for high winds and more active fire behavior this afternoon, Boulder County officials are rescinding the prior decision to open certain neighborhoods in the evacuation area.
At 10 a.m. today, certain communities within the evacuation area were opened to allow residents to gather what they need from their homes and be prepared to evacuate again. Those areas will now be closed as of 12:30 p.m., and all residents who entered those areas are asked to leave under a mandatory evacuation order as of 2 p.m. today.
The areas include:
PLEASE NOTE: Utilities such as electricity, gas and phones remain off in most of these areas. Since phones are out, residents should not rely on reverse citizen notification to inform them about new evacuations. Sheriff’s deputies will be patrolling the neighborhoods to let people know they need to evacuate again by 2 p.m.
Additionally, the openings of Lefthand Canyon Drive, Sunshine Canyon Drive, Fourmile Canyon Drive and Sugarloaf Road that were tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. today have been cancelled. Residents should not attempt to return to their homes if they live along any of those roads.
Update: September 8, 2010
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County is asking that all residents who have been evacuated due to the Fourmile Canyon wildfire please contact the county.
It is important that all evacuated residents make contact as soon as possible so the county can assist displaced residents with the recovery process in an efficient, timely manner.
Residents are asked to email edonaghey@bouldercounty.org and provide the following information:
· Full name
· Address of affected residence
· Is this a primary or secondary residence?
· Have you received notification that your residence is damaged or destroyed?
· Phone number where you can be immediately reached
· Do you need long-term housing (non-shelter) assistance?
The center is located at Boulder County’s Sundquist Building, 3482 N. Broadway in Boulder. A call center is also operational there and can be contacted at 303-441-3560.
The victim assistance center is not a shelter. The emergency shelter is located at the Boulder YMCA, 2850 Mapleton Ave, and is being managed by the Red Cross.
The victim assistance center is offering the following services to victims of the fire:
The center is being staffed by Boulder County, the Red Cross and the Mental Health Center of Boulder County.
A public call center for people seeking information about the fire can be reached at 303-413-7730. More information is available at www.boulderoem.com, www.facebook.com/bouldercounty and www.twitter.com/bouldercounty.
The Boulder County Sheriff's Office is providing this information to residents who have been affected by the fire. The addresses on this web page are of houses that the Sheriff's Office has identified as destroyed by the Fourmile Canyon Fire. These addresses were determined from only 5-10% of the burned area, as that is the only area that could be safely surveyed today. Some parts of the burned area are more densely populated than others. In most cases, Sheriff's deputies were able to identify addresses by the homes' mailboxes, some of which are grouped with other mailboxes, so while we intend this to be an accurate list of addresses, we are working under difficult conditions in determining the actual address of each home.
We will continue to post more information on http://www.boulderOEM.com as it becomes available following additional investigative work on Wednesday.
Updated Fourmile Canyon wildfire information as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County officials provided updated information about the Fourmile Canyon wildfire at a press briefing at 4 p.m. today. An additional news briefing will be held today at 8 p.m. at the Boulder County Justice Center located at Sixth Street and Canyon Boulevard in Boulder.
No injuries or deaths as a result of the fire have been reported.
The Fourmile Canyon wildfire has grown to at least 7,100 acres in size and forced the mandatory evacuation of more than 3,000 residents living in the steep, rugged and heavily forested foothills west of the City of Boulder. Teams are on site to catalog burned structures and to investigate the fire’s cause and origin.
More than 200 firefighters, from at least 35 local, regional and national agencies are working to contain the active fire. Eight air tankers and three helicopters joined the effort. Due to a thick inversion layer limiting visibility, air tankers were unable take off Tuesday morning, but dropped more than 90,000 gallons of fire retardant later in the day.
Communities east of the Peak-to-Peak Highway, south of Lefthand Canyon Drive, west of Olde Stage Road and north of Boulder Canyon Drive (Colo. Highway 119) will remain evacuated until further notice. Residents will be informed when any evacuations have been lifted.
The emergency shelter at the Coors Events Center located on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder is closed. A new overnight emergency shelter has opened at the Boulder YMCA located at 2850 Mapleton Ave. Food, water and insurance resources will be available courtesy of the American Red Cross.
Boulder County will have animal control officers on scene conducting animal evacuations when site access becomes available. Animal evacuation information can be obtained by calling 720-564-2942.
An incident call center has been established to assist city and county residents affected by the wildfire. Residents are asked to contact the call center at 303-413-7730 instead of calling 911 unless there is an emergency to report. Information is also available at www.boulderoem.com.
-BoulderCounty.org-
New Incident Call Center EstablishedUpdated: September 7
9:57 a.m. - A new incident call center has been established to assist city and county residents affected by the wildfire and evacuations. Residents are asked to contact this call center at 303-413-7730 instead of calling 911 or the city and county dispatch lines unless there is a new emergency to report.
Updated: September 7
Boulder County officials will be on hand to update the public and media on the status of the Fourmile Canyon Fire at a briefing scheduled for 9 a.m. MST Tuesday at the Boulder County Justice Center located at 6th Street and Canyon Boulevard in Boulder. So far, no injuries as a result of the fire have been reported.
Up-to-date information about the size of the fire, its movement overnight, personnel and equipment involved in fighting the fire, evacuation status and tactical plans for the day will be discussed at the briefing, among other information.
The Fourmile Canyon Fire is at least 3,500 acres in size and forced the mandatory evacuation of about 3,000 residents living in the steep, rugged and heavily forested foothills west of the City of Boulder. There have been no evacuations within the city limits of Boulder. The evacuation area includes communities east of the Peak-to-Peak Highway, south of Lefthand Canyon Drive and north of Boulder Canyon Drive (Colo. Highway 119). Twelve people spent Monday night in the Coors Events Center located on the University of Colorado, Boulder campus. All other emergency shelters were closed because evacuated residents had made arrangements to stay with friends or family in the area, according to Red Cross officials.
Over 100 firefighters manning 35 engines from 30 local agencies worked to contain the fast-moving, wind-blown fire on Monday. Three aircraft also joined the fight flying 18 sorties and dropping 40,000 gallons of fire retardant on the fire. Additional aircraft are expected to join the effort on Tuesday.
Boulder Canyon Drive reopened to traffic Monday evening, however, Fourmile Canyon Drive and Sugarloaf Road remain closed. Additionally, Lefthand Canyon Drive and James Canyon Drive are open from U.S. Highway 36 to Jamestown. Lefthand Canyon Drive is closed between Lee Hill Drive and Lick Skillet Road.
The Boulder Valley School District also announced that all mountain schools will be closed Tuesday.
An incident call center has been established to assist city and county residents affected by the wildfire. Residents are asked to contact the call center at 303-413-7737 instead of calling 911 unless there is an emergency to report.
Updated: September 6
This is the most comprehensive list of residential areas that have been ordered to evacuate as a result of the wildfire: all homes within a 3-mile radius of Gold Hill; the Mountain Meadows subdivision; the Sierra Antigua subdivision; Mountain Meadows and Mountain Pines; Pine Brook; Boulder Heights; Whispering Pines; Mile marker 3 Sugarloaf to Boulder Canyon; and Lickskillet west to Sawmill.
The emergency alert notification system is not working properly. Residents in the evacuation area should NOT wait for alerts to evacuate.
For an updated report of areas being evacuated, please visit: http://boulderoem.com/component/content/article/5.
Please direct all area residents to the public information phone number for questions about the affected area: 303-413-7737.
Follow on Twitter: @BoulderOEM, @COEmergency, @BoulderCounty, @ColoradoDOT, hash tag #boulderfire.
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