March 22, 2014 - 5:00 p.m.
Contact: Marti Whitmore: Ouray County Attorney & Public Information Officer
Phone: 970-626-5484
Email: mwhitmore@ouraycountyco.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ridgway, Colorado – Ouray County, Colorado - At approximately 2 p.m. this afternoon a small plane crashed in the vicinity of Ridgway Reservoir, just north of Ridgway, Colorado in southwest Colorado. The plane is believed to be a single-engine Socata TBM700. At this time there is no confirmation of how many people were on board, or whether there are any survivors.
Search and rescue is on site searching for survivors. A rescue dive team is also on site.
The plane is believed to be registered to a corporation in Alabama, and had departed from Bartlesville, OK and was headed to Montrose, Colorado.
The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is supporting Ouray County with information distribution, however, all media calls should be directed to Ouray Couty PIO Marti Whitmore.
News Release: Ouray County Plane Crash Update
Ridgway, Colorado – Ouray County, Colorado
Contact:Marti Whitmore – Ouray County Attorney and Public Information Officer
Phone: 970-626-5484
Email: mwhitmore@ouraycountyco.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This afternoon a small plane crashed in the vicinity of Ridgway Reservoir, just north of Ridgway, Colorado in southwest Colorado. It is unknown at this time whether there are any survivors. Search and rescue is on site searching for survivors. Rescue dive teams are in route to the scene. Further details will be released as they become known.
Colorado Flood Safety and Wildfire Awareness Week in Review
Colorado has more than its fair share of floods, flash floods, and wildfires. Last year was particularly devastating, with numerous wildfires and many areas experiencing floods. During the past week, in our effort to build a Weather-Ready nation, we have presented information to you on how to stay safe and minimize property damage during flood and wildfire threats.
When a flash flood warning is issued for your area, you need to quickly move to higher ground out of drainages or other low spots. It may be just a short run or climb to that higher ground.
Nearly half of all flash flood fatalities occur in vehicles. Do not drive through a flooded roadway. Instead turn around, do not drown. The water may be much deeper than you think because it may not be possible to see below the surface of flood waters that the roadway has been washed away. One to two feet of water will carry away most vehicles. Additional flood safety information can be found at www.floodsafety.noaa.gov.
Areas burned by wildfires are highly susceptible to flash floods, especially within the first two or three years after the wildfire has occurred. Wildfires by themselves destroy much property and occasionally result in fatalities within Colorado. There are actions you can take to protect yourself and minimize the wildfire threat to your property.
If you live near or within a forest or rangeland you are encouraged to make a defensible space around your home and other structures. Information on how to make a defensible space around your home can be found on the Colorado State Forest Service website at http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/defensible-space.html.
River flooding from snowmelt or persistent rainfall can cause extensive damage to property. There are estimated to be 65,000 homes and 15,000 commercial, industrial and business structures in identified floodplains within Colorado. FEMA has online maps that show if you are in a flood risk area. To access those maps go to https://msc.fema.gov.
If you live in a flood prone area, buying flood insurance is the best thing you can do to protect your home, your business, your family and your financial security. To find an insurance agent and obtain other flood insurance information, go to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program web site at www.floodsmart.gov. As a reminder there is generally a 30-day waiting period from the time a flood insurance policy is purchased to when it goes into effect.
Additional information on floods and wildfires is available from your local National Weather Service web sites.
Preparedness and safety tips are available on floods, wildfires and other hazards in Colorado on the Colorado Division of Homeland Security’s community preparedness website: www.READYColorado.com. Information is also posted daily on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/READYColorado and on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/READYColorado.
This blog was written by Jim Pringle, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, WFO Grand Junction
When a flash flood warning is issued for your area, you need to quickly move to higher ground out of drainages or other low spots. It may be just a short run or climb to that higher ground.
Nearly half of all flash flood fatalities occur in vehicles. Do not drive through a flooded roadway. Instead turn around, do not drown. The water may be much deeper than you think because it may not be possible to see below the surface of flood waters that the roadway has been washed away. One to two feet of water will carry away most vehicles. Additional flood safety information can be found at www.floodsafety.noaa.gov.
Areas burned by wildfires are highly susceptible to flash floods, especially within the first two or three years after the wildfire has occurred. Wildfires by themselves destroy much property and occasionally result in fatalities within Colorado. There are actions you can take to protect yourself and minimize the wildfire threat to your property.
If you live near or within a forest or rangeland you are encouraged to make a defensible space around your home and other structures. Information on how to make a defensible space around your home can be found on the Colorado State Forest Service website at http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/defensible-space.html.
River flooding from snowmelt or persistent rainfall can cause extensive damage to property. There are estimated to be 65,000 homes and 15,000 commercial, industrial and business structures in identified floodplains within Colorado. FEMA has online maps that show if you are in a flood risk area. To access those maps go to https://msc.fema.gov.
If you live in a flood prone area, buying flood insurance is the best thing you can do to protect your home, your business, your family and your financial security. To find an insurance agent and obtain other flood insurance information, go to FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program web site at www.floodsmart.gov. As a reminder there is generally a 30-day waiting period from the time a flood insurance policy is purchased to when it goes into effect.
Additional information on floods and wildfires is available from your local National Weather Service web sites.
Preparedness and safety tips are available on floods, wildfires and other hazards in Colorado on the Colorado Division of Homeland Security’s community preparedness website: www.READYColorado.com. Information is also posted daily on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/READYColorado and on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/READYColorado.
This blog was written by Jim Pringle, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, WFO Grand Junction
Colorado Flood Safety and Wildfire Awareness Week: Wildfire Safety and Mitigation
During this Colorado Flood Safety
and Wildfire Awareness Week we have discussed floods, flash floods and how to
stay safe when flooding threatens. We
also told you that areas burned by wildfires are highly susceptible to flash
floods within the first two or three years after the wildfire.
Today we will provide you with
the information about wildfire safety and mitigation that could save your life
and minimize destruction to your personal property.
Colorado experienced some very
devastating wildfires in 2013, including the Black Forest Fire, Royal Gorge
Fire, and the West Fork Complex Fire which burned over 100,000 acres of forest.
Two people were killed and over 500 houses were destroyed from the Black Forest
Wildfire.
All wildfires need fuel to burn,
typically in the form of dry vegetation, as often occurs in forests, grasslands
and cured wheat fields. Tragically, some
wildfires also kill people and destroy homes, vehicles and other personal
property. If you live near or within a
forest, grassland or wheat field, there are some actions you can take to
minimize your vulnerability to wildfires.
Homeowner Mitigation
If you are a homeowner, the first
defense against wildfire is to create and maintain a defensible space around
your home. Defensible space is that area
around a home or other structure where fuels and vegetation are treated,
cleared or reduced to slow the spread of wildfire. Creating wildfire defensible zones also
reduces the chance of a structure fire spreading to neighboring homes or the
surrounding forest. Defensible space
also provides room for firefighters to do their jobs when fighting a wildfire.
More information on how to make a
defensible space around your home can be found on the Colorado State Forest
Service website at HTTP://CSFS.COLOSTATE.EDU/PAGES/DEFENSIBLE-SPACE.HTML
Wildfire Safety Tips
During periods of extreme fire
danger in forests and rangelands:
- You should check fire restrictions at http://www.coemergency.com/p/fire-bans-danger.html
- You should avoid being in areas where you might become trapped by a wildfire.
- You should avoid the use of matches or anything else which could ignite a fire.
- You should make sure that hot parts of motorized equipment, such as mufflers, are not allowed to come in contact with dry grasses or other potentially flammable material.
- If you become trapped or cut off by a wildfire see shelter in areas with little or no fuel such as rock slide areas or lakes.
For more information on wildfires
and fire safety please check out the following web sites:
- https://www.readycolorado.com/hazard/wildfire
- HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/RIDGE2/FIRE/
- HTTP://CSFS.COLOSTATE.EDU/
- HTTP://WWW.NIFC.GOV
Colorado Flood Safety and
Wildfire Awareness Week continues through this Saturday.
This blog written by Jim Pringle,
Warning Coordination Meteorologist, WFO Grand Junction
Wildfire in Colorado, Where do you get Your Information?
Colorado Flood Safety and Wildfire Awareness Week: Wildfire Information
The wildfire names roll off the tongue.
The 2000s have been rough years for fire in Colorado:
- Hayman Fire,
- Four Mile Fire,
- High Park Fire,
- Missionary Ridge Fire,
- Waldo Canyon Fire,
- Royal Gorge Fire,
- Black Forest Fire, and
- West Fork Complex Fire
These are but a few of the fires
we have seen in the past 10 to 15 years.
Drought, pine beetle damage, the increase of habitation in the wildland
urban interface (WUI), years of tight fire management have all contributed to
the increase of high impact fires.
National Weather Service Support to Wildfires
To assist in your preparation for
fire, the National Weather Service provides a variety of fire weather forecast
products. Twice a day in Colorado, fire weather planning forecasts are made
from each weather service office serving the state.
A Fire Weather Watch may be issued
if in the next 12 to 48 hours the forecast includes gusty winds of 25 MPH or
greater, relative humidities of less than 15 percent for at least three hours,
dry lightning, or a combination of weather and fuel conditions that may make
large wildfires possible.
A Red Flag Warning will be issued
if these same critical fire conditions are forecast within the next 24 hours.
Both Fire Weather Watches and Red Flag Warnings are issued in coordination with
land management agencies.
The Fire Weather Spot Program supports
land management agencies for both prescribed burns and for wildfires. A Fire
Weather Spot Forecast is a detailed forecast for an individual fire.
For National Type II or Type I
fires the National Weather Service will detail an IMET Incident Meteorologist to a fire team to provide onsite
weather support and detailed fire forecasts.
If you live in the wildland urban
interface (WUI) there are a number of actions you can take to reduce your
personal fire threat including reducing
vegetation near the home and putting a fire resistant roof on your
home. More information is available from
your local fire department and at https://www.readycolorado.com/hazard/wildfire.
When a fire occurs, there may be
years of increased flood threat on the burn scar, as a healthy forest can
handle an inch to inch and a half of rain with no flood risk. Once the litter
and vegetation is removed by fire
as little as a half inch of rain in a short period can cause serious and
possibly life threatening flooding.
Colorado Flood Safety and
Wildfire Awareness Week continues through this Saturday.
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