Peak Alerts proved effective during 403 fire
The fire that has destroyed hundreds of acres in Park County, near the border with Teller County, was an extreme opportunity to test the new Peak Alerts system. According to Jay Teague, director of the Teller County Office of Emergency Management, for the people who had correctly signed on, the system worked.
For those who didn’t get the message to evacuate as the 403 fire ignited March 30, the reasons were varied.
“They were either outside the area of alert, had old contact information or didn’t finish the process to activate the alert levels on their accounts,” Teague said.
Because the 403 fire did not cross into Teller County, the updates for the public originated from the Park County team.
“For us it was kind of odd because any information we wanted to push out, we had to get approved by their incident command team,” Teague said. “But they did a great job.”
With the fire bearing down on Teller, however, Teague and Sheriff Jason Mikesell directed firefighters from the region to stand by.
“We evacuated people from Wilson Lakes and Forest Glen,” Teague said. “We got good feedback from people in the evacuation zones; they did get the alerts right away.”
The crews were from fire departments in Florissant, Four Mile, Divide, Woodland Park (Northeast Teller County Fire Protection District), Cripple Creek, Victor, Lake George and Mountain Communities.
Teague credits Jason Miler and Tim Ross, Incident Commander and Operations Chief, respectively, from the U.S. Forest Service for assuming command.
“They took it over from the county resources and did such a good job,” he said. “They brought in a wildland crew and some Hotshots.”
As of Saturday, the fire, determined to be human caused, had burned 1,518 acres, with no injuries or lives lost.
The Everbridge Peak Alerts system replaced the old Nixle alerts.
“Nixle was a huge drag on our cellular infrastructure because we were trying to alert everybody in the county all at once,” Teague said.
Peak Alerts is broken down into several areas where people are immediately affected in emergencies, Teague said. “For people who need to get the alerts, they have time to get out in a safe fashion, so the new system benefits them.”
To sign up to the Peak Alerts system, go to www.peakalerts.org.
The 403 fire ignited March 30 and has been determined to be human caused. As of Saturday, April 8, the fire was 65% contained.