Lower North Fork Fire Safety Message

All residents planning to move back into the Lower North Fork Fire affected area should read the following Safety Message. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_3vHjXvTmbCeURvWlY5LWJRbE9VeEIzd2hVYTludw/edit

All Evacuation Orders Lifted Tomorrow (4/2/12) at 8:00 AM

Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink and Incident Commander Rich Harvey have announced that, effective at 8:00 AM Monday morning (4/2/12), all evacuation orders will be lifted.

All of the pre-evacuation notices that have been issued will also be lifted tomorrow at 8:00 AM.

All residents will be allowed to go home starting at 8:00 AM. All roads, with the exception of Kuehster Road, will be open to the public. Kuehster Road will remain open only to residents until further notice.

Containment around the Lower North Fork Fire is now at 97%.

Residents should continue to exercise personal responsibility and discretion as they move back into the area. Please read the following document to educate yourself about the various risks associated with moving back into an area affected by wildfire. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_3vHjXvTmbCeURvWlY5LWJRbE9VeEIzd2hVYTludw/edit

Citizen Briefing at 5PM at West Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson County Sheriff, Ted Mink, & Incident Comander, Rich Harvey, will be at the 5:00 PM citizen briefing at West Jefferson Middle School.

Want to Support Wildland Fire Fighters? Here is How You Can!

To those who have asked how they can support the firefighters who have worked on the Lower North Fork Fire:

All year long crews of highly trained firefighters travel all over the country to fight fires that threaten communities of which they are not even a part. The fight against wildfire usually begins with local resources. When a fire grows as the Lower North Fork Fire did, the call goes out to other resources from out of the immediate area.

All of these men and women put their lives on the line and sometimes incur injuries or even die in the line of duty.

There is an organization which serves the wildland firefighting community and their families in times of tragedy. A donation to the Wildland Firefighters Foundation will provide direct assistance to firefighters and their families when they need it most.

Go to their website: http://www.wffoundation.org/ to learn more about the organization and ways you can help.

Pictures from the Lower North Fork Fire:

These pictures were taken on the evening of March 26th, 2012

Photos taken by Tim Schlung

Message from Jefferson County Animal Response Team

The Jefferson County Animal Response Team (J-CART)has worked hard during the duration of the Lower North Fork Fire. J-CART has provided services for 351 animals.

The livestock shelter at the Fairgrounds now has a phone that will be staffed as much as possible between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM every day until all animals are picked up. The number is 303.279.7303.

The Fairgrounds has the National High School Rodeo at the facility next weekend and will need every stall we are now occupying. We hope to have all the livestock returned to the owners by mid week if at all possible

Here are the groups (all part of J-CART) who helped out this last week:
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Jefferson County Horse Council Emergency Evacuation Team
Jefferson County Fairgrounds Staff
Foothills Animal Shelter and Staff
Evergreen Animal Protective League
Jefferson County Mounted Search and Rescue
Front Range Animal Evacuation Team
Animal Evacuation Volunteers
Gilpin County Animal Response Team
Jeffco HEAT (Horse Evacuation and Assistance Team)
Colorado Livestock Inspectors
Animal Emergency Management Program of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Section

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Here is a flyer that gives contact information on all the volunteer groups that are part of J-CART: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_3vHjXvTmbCbkJWdFpjYWxRemF3dzNGNmh2bHdJZw/edit

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The following are statistics available from animal rescue and support efforts.
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Jefferson County Fairgrounds Livestock Shelter – run by Jefferson County Horse Council Emergency Evacuation Team (JCHC EET)

245 total animals – 140 horses, 2 cows, 39 alpaca, 16 goats, 41 llama, 3 donkeys, 1 dog, 1 mule, 2 yak
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Red Cross Evacuation Sites (Conifer HS, West Jeff Middle School)
Temporary Pet Shelter – run by Evergreen Animal Protective League

41 animals taken in and cared for (unknown on the breakdown just yet)
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Foothills Animal Shelter
No cost temporary sheltering for evacuated pet owners

65 total animals – 21 chickens, 5 geese, 4 salamanders, 9 koi, 12 cats, 13 dogs
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A volunteer group at the Fairgrounds and the Colorado Horsecare Foodbank are working to help displaced horse and livestock owners find hay and supplies and locations to temporarily board (for time frames beyond the middle of this week) their animals until they can be returned home. See the following flyer for more information:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_3vHjXvTmbCbW9TVTFBTnlSLVdwVWlrWkgyOUgzZw/edit

Updated Lower North Fork Fire Map

View Lower North Fork Wildfire in a larger map

Updated Lower North Fork Fire Map Showing Road Status: 4/1/12

Here are updated maps showing the revised evacuation area.

The road status on these maps is accurate as of this morning.

The fire perimeter and containment line data is accurate as of 3/31/12 at 4:00 PM.

Lower North Fork Fire Update: 4/1/12 0930:

Containment for the Lower North Fork Fire remains at 90%.

Homes located south of the intersection of Pleasant Park Road and Keuhster Road remain under the existing evacuation order.

As of 7:00 PM on Saturday (3/31/12) residents in the existing evacuation areas, to include Maxwell Hill and Critchell Road, were allowed to return to their homes.

The Red Flag Warning was issued by the National Weather Service yesterday from 1200 noon to 8:00 PM. The NWS has has issued the same Red Flag Warning today, to go into effect from 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM.

Due to the Red Flag Warning residents moving back into the repopulated area should remember to remain vigilant and prepared to leave should conditions change.

Lower North Fork Fire Horse Update 4/01/12 0925

Horse claim information

If Jefferson County Animal Control is still housing your horse, you may claim it during daylight hours at the Jeffco Animal Shelter. Please be prepared to present proof of ownership or some form or identification, such as a driver's license, with your address on it. If you have further questions, please call Jeffco Animal Control at 303-271-5071.

Citizen and Media Briefings for Sunday 4/01/12:

Citizen and Media Briefings for Sunday 4/01/12:
There are no media briefings scheduled for Sunday April, 1st, 2012 at Conifer High School. Should a briefing be necessary we will notify the media of the briefing time via this website and via our Twitter account (@jeffcosheriffco).

There will be a citizen briefing at the West Jefferson Middle School at 5:00 PM. There will not be any briefing at 9:00 AM or 1:00 PM.

Social Media Information Outreach Strategy

The beginning of any incident is typically the busiest and most information filled period. As such our social media engagement during the last few days has been high. As the incident goes forward and becomes more stable the need for rapid updates will slow relative to our prior pace.

This means that the frequency of our posts and tweets will slowly decrease in proportion with the stability of the incident. Be assured that we will continue to post and tweet each new pertinent update in a timely fashion.

Ours is a digital age where Social Media must be fully engaged. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office realizes that our information sharing strategy has differed from traditional press release based ‘pad n paper’ media outreach.

As with any strategy, we are continuously assessing our impact and how we can improve what we have already accomplished. Our internal tracking and statistics show that there have been over 2 million hits on our Lower North Fork Fire map posted on the emergency blog. We have had 300,000+ hits on the emergency blog during the duration of this incident. The number of people following the @JeffcoSheriffCo twitter account has more than quadrupled during this incident. With these numbers we believe that our strategy is working but we certainly are fully dedicated to continuously trying to improve our interaction with the community.

We will continue to provide updates via the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Emergency blog (www.jeffcosheriff1.blogspot.com). We will also continue to post updates via twitter using @JeffcoSheriffCo.

Don’t have a twitter account? Or don’t know how to use twitter? All you have to do is visit www.twitter.com/jeffcosheriffco . Click on the link and you will see all of our recent updates (tweets). You do not have to create an account to see the tweets.

Thank you for engaging with us during this incident. We look forward to completing our social media conversation as the incident begins to further stabilize.

Citizen and Media Briefings for Sunday 4/01/12:

There are no media briefings scheduled for Sunday April, 1st, 2012 at Conifer High School. Should a briefing be necessary we will notify the media of the briefing time via this website and via our Twitter account (@jeffcosheriffco).

There will be a citizen briefing at the West Jefferson Middle School at 5:00 PM. There will not be any briefing at 9:00 AM or 1:00 PM.

Lower North Fork Fire Update 3/31/12 1700:

Firefighters have worked hard today to establish and hold the containment line around the Lower North Fork Fire perimeter.

The containment number is 90%.

At 7:00 PM residents in the existing evacuation areas to include Maxwell Hill and Critchell Road will be allowed to return to their homes. All homes located south of the intersection of Pleasant Park Road and Keuhster Road remain under the evacuation order.

The Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Service has not been lifted. As such residents moving back into area should remember to remain vigilant and prepared to leave should conditions change.

Lower North Fork Fire Update 3/31/12 1600:

Search for Missing Woman Suspended

Jefferson County, Co. – With the efforts of Colorado Task Force 1, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, possible human artifacts have been located within the Appel home located at 14141 Broadview Circle.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office has assumed care of the artifacts and has begun a series of forensic tests. The results are not expected for several days.

Colorado Task Force 1, the Urban Search and Rescue Team, has suspended search efforts as of 2:30 PM today.

The Appel family has asked for privacy during this time of loss.

You can view the official press release here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_3vHjXvTmbCWWV4VkZ1d2hRTnVZeFNXazk0VksyUQ/edit

Citizen and Media Briefings are now Scheduled for Saturday 3/31/12:

A Media Briefing is Scheduled for 3/31/12 at 4:00 PM, at Conifer High School.

A Citizen Briefing will take place at 5:00 PM at the West Jefferson Middle School. This briefing will be attending by Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink and Incident Commander Rich Harvey.

Lower North Fork Fire Update 3/31/12 1355

Cooperators Meeting Held To Coordinate for Restoration of Service

A meeting was conducted this morning by the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management and the Incident Management Team to coordinate an effort for returning services to the areas affected by the Lower North Fork Fire. Attending were representatives from American Red Cross, Century Link, IMT personnel, IREA, Rocky Mtn. Insurance Group, JeffCo Building officials, JeffCo OEM, JeffCo Assessors, and local propane suppliers (Cooperators). It was determined a two phase process would be used.

The first phase will involve the cooperators visiting the involved area to assess damage and determine what they will need to restore services. This will include both insurance and utility assessments.

The second phase will be coordinated and scheduled efforts to restore services. The timing of each phase will be dependent on fire operational activity in the area where work will be performed. The public will be kept informed on the progress of this work as it is accomplished.

Plans in Place to Assess and Restore Services to Affected Areas:

Earlier today a meeting was held by various government agencies as well as public utility companies. Plans are in place to assess and restore services to areas affected by the Lower North Fork Fire.

Stay tuned to this website for an announcement regarding updates on the effort to restore public utilities to affected areas.

Food Safety after Power Outage:

News Release from Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment:

Barbara Hruska, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment’s Consumer Protection Division, said, “The loss of electricity may cause perishable and frozen foods to become spoiled and cause illness if eaten, even if the food is thoroughly cooked. Do not trust your eyes or sense of smell. Food may be unsafe to eat, even if it doesn’t look or smell bad.”

Hruska provided these food safety tips to follow whenever the power goes out:

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.



• The refrigerator will keep food cold for about four hours if it is unopened.



• A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.



• If the food stored in the refrigerator has been held above 41 F for more than four hours, throw it away.



• If food stored in the freezer has thawed but is still below 41 F, it can be refrozen. Although the quality of the food may be compromised, it still should be safe to eat.

More information about food and health safety can be found at: http://jeffco.us/health/health_T111_R298.htm

There is information on this website for health concerns related to smoke, health related information for properties affected by forest fire, fire ash clean up, as well as links to the CDC Wildfires and Safety webpage and the CDPHE Health Advisories webpage.

Lower North Fork Fire Update 3/31/12 0955

Updated Containment

The #Lowernorthforkfire is currently at 90% containment!