Posts tagged evacuation
Boulder Office of EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT latest it’s a real mess out there
Feb 22nd
It is anticipated that the the evacuations will remain in effect for several hours as crews assess any potential for additional fire activity in the Lyons Stone Canyon area. Evacuees are advised to remain at the evacuation center until further notice.
2/22 7:20 p.m. – Stone Canyon Fire contained
Fire crews are reporting that the Stone Canyon Fire has been contained. Firefighters are still on the scene to monitor and address hot spots. The fire scorched about 20 acres. Evacuation Center officials are reporting that approximately 15 families are on scene, awaiting word about when they can safely return to their homes. Updates will be posted here as soon as they are available.
2/22 6:40 p.m. – Hwy. 36 has been re-opened
The Colorado State Patrol has re-opened Hwy. 36, but motorists are advised to use caution because of high wind conditions.
2/22 6:35 p.m. – Additional evacuation information
Evacuations have been ordered for the Eagle Ridge subdivision, and officials are re-routing traffic to 5th Avenue because of a downed power line at 1125 Stone Canyon Road.
2/22 6:30 p.m. – Hwy. 36 closed at McCaslin Boulevard
Motorists are advised that Hwy. 36 is closed at McCaslin Boulevard in both directions. Alternate routes are suggested.
2/22 6:15 p.m. – Lyons High School opens as evacuation center
Emergency officials are opening an evacuation center at Lyons High School for individuals displaced by the Stone Canyon fire. The high school is located at 100 S. Second Ave. in Lyons. Individuals are encouraged to at least check in at the evacuation center to register in the event that officials need to contact them.
2/22 6:05 p.m. – New fire reported east of Lyons
Crews are responding to a grassfire that is threatening structures east of Lyons. The fire, approximately 2 acres, started behind 931 Stone Canyon Road. Emergency officials made 42 Everbridge notifications, advising people to evacuate immediately because of the high winds and fast-moving 10- to 15-foot flames. No evacuation centers have been established yet. Additional updates will be posted as soon as they are available.
2/22 6 p.m. – City, county crews contain Diagonal Fire
Contact:
EOC Media Line – 720-564-2935
City, county fire crews contain grass fire along Diagonal Highway
City and county firefighters have contained a grass fire that broke out at about 3:30 p.m. today at 63rd Street and Diagonal Highway. Firefighters battled high winds that made conditions particularly challenging. As of 5 p.m., crews were reporting that the blaze was 100 percent contained.
Read more…
2/22 5:45 p.m. – Weather Update
According to the National Weather Service, we are currently experiencing the strongest winds of the evening, with gusts out of the W/SW over 70 mph. Between 8 and 9 p.m., winds will shift to NW at 40-50 mph. Around midnight tonight, winds shift to the N decreasing to 25-30 mph gusts. The wind helps to move a cold front quickly in to Boulder County by 5 a.m. with winds at 10-15 mph. Snow accumulations expected to be .5 to 1 inch, and the storm will move out of the area by noon tomorrow.
2/22 5:22 p.m. – Diagonal Fire
2/22 5:22p.m. – Diagonal Fire The Diagonal Fire is now 100% contained. The Diagonal is open for Longmont bound traffic, still closed for Boulder bound traffic. 63rd St. is closed from the diagonal to Monarch Road. 71st St. is closed between State Highway 52 and Winchester Circle.
2/22 4:40 p.m. – Diagonal Fire
2/22 5:04p.m. – Diagonal Fire – 1300 reverse notifications were sent to the area from Lookout Road north to Niwot Rd, and from 79th Street west to the Diagonal, advising residents of the fire in the area. No evacuations were ordered.
2/22 4:40 p.m. – Diagonal Fire
2/22 4:40 p.m. – Diagonal Fire Update – There are no mandatory evacuations at this time. Voluntary evacuation should go Eastbound towards 75th Street.
2/22 4:30 p.m. – Diagonal Fire
Fire crews are responding to a brush fire near 63rd Street and Diagonal Highway. Initial reports indicated the fire was near Tom Watson Park, west of Diagonal Highway.
Please be aware that both lanes of the Diagonal Highway at 63rd Street have been shut down.
Left Hand Canyon Fire Maxwell Fire Boulder
Jun 26th
City Dispatchers told us The fire initially started at approximate 5:00 pm ( according to first calls to city of boulder Dispatch records)
Rick Brough Sheriffs Department Commander told us the fire started about 1/4 mile from the “off highway entrance to gun shooting and 4 wheeling, on the side of the road. “It could have been a spark or a cigarette but no cause has been determined” He said initially, some homes we mandated to evacuate when the fire started to run during high winds when it started. ” But now there is no mandatory evacuations except for 1.5 miles of Left Hand Canyon past old Stage road.
8:12 A reverse 911 call went out to 340 homes according to Boulder PD PIO Kim Kobel. The evacuations are not mandatory. The US forest service has taken over the fire.
With hope and no high winds tomorrow morning, we have escaped the bullet this time Boulder.
7:58 Colorado ORM reports in:
Maxwell Fire Info Sources – Boulder, CO
The Boulder County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has been activated in response to a fire in Lefthand Canyon being referred to as the Maxwell Fire. Response information – including evacuation and shelter information – is being posted on Boulder’s Office of Emergency Management Emergency Information Page at http://boulderoem.com/emergency-status. Boulder OEM is also providing information via their Twitter feed (@boulderoem) at http://twitter.com/boulderoem, their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BoulderOEM and via Boulder County’s Twitter feed (@bouldercounty) at http://twitter.com/bouldercounty.
Fire Fight/Suppression information for the Maxwell Fire is being posted on Inciweb at http://inciweb.org/incident/2384/
An evacuation center has been established by the Red Cross at the YMCA at 28th street in Boulder. Evacuees are encouraged to go to the evacuation center for information and assistance. Red Cross Shelter information is being posted at http://twitter.com/redcrossdenver
The Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center (@rmaccfireinfo) is also posting fire-related information at http://twitter.com/rmaccfireinfo as is the Arapahoe National Forest at http://twitter.com/usfsarp.
Boulder County also maintains a txt/email alert system – register for alerts online at https://ww2.everbridge.net/citizen/EverbridgeGateway.action?body=home&gis_alias_id=160781.
There are two hashtags currently being used on Twitter for fire-related information: #maxwellfire and #boulderfire. Search for fire info using the hashtags at
The Maxwell Fire is burning on National Forest System lands in the Lefthand Canyon area. An airtanker is working the fire and additional resources have been ordered.
7:47 6/26 from us forest service
Basic Information
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Under Investigation
Date of Origin Sunday June 26th, 2011 approx. 05:00 PM
Location Lefthand Canyon Area of Roosevelt National Forest
Current Situation
Size 100 acres
Outlook
Planned Actions
Additional crews have been ordered and an air tanker is making drops.
6/26 7:30 p.m. – Maxwell Fire Road Closures
Roads closed to public traffic:
Left Hand Canyon at North Foothills Highway (local traffic allowed with I.D. to Old Stage Rd.)
James Canyon at Lefthand Canyon to Old Stage Rd
Old Stage at Lefthand Canyon to James Canyon
6/26 6 p.m. – Fire in Lefthand Canyon
Firefighters have responded to a fire near the 3.7 Mile Marker on U.S. Forest Service land. There is a mandatory evacuation for residents within a 1.5 mile radius of the 3.7 MM. The Emergency Operations Center is activated to help support firefighting efforts. Additional information will be posted here when details are available.
The “Maxwell Fire” began at approximately 5:39 p.m. this afternoon. Fire is estimated to be between 10 and 20 acres in size.
The Boulder
Japan death by Nuclear fallout 0 Death by Tsunami 10,000: two Boulder Scientists write
Mar 17th
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/default.aspx
http://www.nukeworker.com/
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/fear-the-media-meltdown-not-the-nuclear-one/?singlepage=true
Yes, media coverage is particularly bad on this one. I happened to have
spent a couple of years working in the bowels of Browns Ferry NP which
are identical units to those in Japan. GE Mk I BWRs.
To sum it up in a few sentences, this is essentially identical to TMI.
A Loss of Coolant Accident followed by failed fuel and probably
substantial fuel melt (there was at TMI). The huge hydrogen production
is from the zircalloy fuel cladding actually burning in the steam
environment, stripping the oxygen atom from water and releasing the
hydrogen. Same thing happened at TMI and there was a hydrogen
explosion, though since with a PWR, the entire reactor building is the
containment, the explosion was contained within the reactor building.
At TMI the core remained uncovered for about 24 hours, long enough for
the fuel to reach its maximum temperature and equilibrate with its
surroundings. The fuel that did melt simply flowed out of the core and
quenched in the water that remained below the fuel. It did not melt
through the reactor vessel. In fact it didn’t even scar the inside
surface of the vessel.
This is what I see happening in Japan. There has been partial or
complete fuel failure in both units. That is indicated both by the huge
hydrogen production and by the trace of Cs-137 and I-131 detected on the
outside.
There is a very large inventory of both isotopes in an operating
reactor. The plant design assumes that both are released as gases
during an accident and plan accordingly. That didn’t happen at TMI.
Once things cooled off enough that we could enter the containment, what
we found was that the Cs and I had reacted chemically to form cesium
iodide, a solid material. Most of it stayed in the reactor. Some came
out into the containment building and settled out on surfaces. A very
tiny amount escaped during the initial containment venting at TMI.
Again, the same thing is happening in Japan. The trace of Cs and I that
has been detected on the outside, if chemically analyzed, will be found
to be the compound cesium iodide. This compounding is why there is but
a tiny bit of material released despite practically constant containment
venting.
I don’t quite understand the pumping of sea water. That’s kind of a
last ditch decision because the salt in the seawater destroys the
stainless steel in the plant. Normally there are a few million gallons
of demineralized water on-site for emergency cooling. Maybe it got
contaminated by the tsunami. Maybe the piping from the storage tank(s)
got broken in the shake. I certainly can’t second-guess the on-site people.
I did see mention in one news report that they were using large diesel
construction pumps to pump the water. That indicates to me that the
plant is still completely blacked out. It’s possible that this is the
reason for using seawater – that none of the electric pumps in the plant
are working.
When all the dust has settled, I predict this to be identical to TMI.
An unmitigated disaster for the utility. No significant off-site
radiation exposure and no off-site contamination. In other words, a
non-event as far as the public is concerned. The massive evacuation
will prove to have been precipitous and un-necessary.
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Thank God they’re using good old fashioned traditional units
of dose (the Roentgen) instead of the execrable Sievert. (1 Sievert is
100 R) The only advantage that I have is my experience at Browns Ferry
and TMI.
I don’t quite understand why they’re trying to fill the #3 reactor
building with water unless they’re assuming a failed reactor vessel and
primary containment. Otherwise water from the reactor building could
not get through the primary containment boundary. Bombing the spent
fuel pit with water I can understand but not the reactor building.
The radiation readings at the plant boundary and that one value quoted
at a distance from the plant are from the noble gases, primarily at this
point Xe-133. It’s a rich gamma emitter with a high specific activity.
Fortunately it only has a 5.25 day half-life and so will decay quickly.
The other, at this point minor, contributor is Kr-85. It’s mostly a
beta emitter with a rare gamma. With about a 10.5 year half life it
will be the principle source of radiation around and inside the
containment vessels in the days to come.
Fortunately its low probability gamma means that it can be vented with
little consequence. At TMI we vented a few million curies prior to the
first reactor building entry and there was no change in the background
radiation level at the plant site boundary.
I’d give anything to be at the plant site boundary with a gamma
spectrometer. With that I could tell you want was going on in the core
and what was being emitted and how much. I’ll guarantee you that there
are people there from some agency doing just that. I don’t know why
that information isn’t filtering out.
John