Posts tagged fire
Fourmile Canyon fire findings ready
Oct 12th
Preliminary findings of Fourmile Fire report to be presented Friday at open house
Boulder County, Colo. – Just days after the Fourmile Fire began in September 2010, Sen. Mark Udall requested a study of the fire similar to the one he requested after the Hayman Fire in 2002.
The preliminary findings of that study will be presented to Boulder County residents and any interested members of the public at an open house this Friday afternoon in Boulder.
What: Public open house to discuss findings presented in the preliminary report of the Fourmile Canyon Fire Assessment.
When: Friday, Oct. 14, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. A presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the assessment researchers.
Where: Commissioners’ Hearing Room, Boulder County Courthouse, third floor, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Researchers will be available to answer specific questions regarding the report. Representatives from Sen. Udall’s office, Boulder County, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management will also be available.
Background
USFS agencies collaborated with the CSFS and assembled a team to conduct the study in December 2010. The study was led by scientists with the USFS’ Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Issues on which the study focuses include the:
- Existing on-the-ground conditions and how they influenced fire behavior
- Success or failure of specific aspects of firefighting activities
- Factors that influenced how and why structures burned
- Existing science related to restoration and protocols in place to learn about recovery
-BoulderCounty.org-
Boulder Smell smoke?? It’s a prescribed burn
Oct 5th
Oct. 5, 2011 Hall Ranch Prescribed Burn
There is currently no emergency.
There is currently no emergency.
Boulder County will conduct a prescribed burn today at the Hall Ranch Open Space from approximately 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Hall Ranch is located north of Highway 7, west of Lyons, south of Highway 36 and west to Button Rock Preserve. Today’s burn will include approximately 70 acres in the area west of the prairie dog town and east of the Nelson Loop trail.
Hall Ranch Open Space will be closed in its entirety for the burn operation.
During a prescribed burn, smoke will be visible and will drift according to wind currents and atmospheric conditions.
Smoke may continue to be visible after the fire is out and may settle in some areas at night when cooler air traps smoke closer to the ground.
If the smoke is bothersome, close windows and stay indoors.
For more information or status updates, please visit:
http://www.bouldercounty.org/government/dept/pages/pos.aspx
CU’s Android App tweets disaster aid
Sep 28th
CU-DEVELOPED ANDROID APP HELPS
PEOPLE TWEET DURING DISASTERS
PEOPLE TWEET DURING DISASTERS
Just as codes once were developed for public safety communication via citizens band radios, a common language now is being formulated for disaster communication via Twitter — posing a challenge for people who haven’t yet learned or can’t recall it.
Daniel Schaefer, a University of Colorado Boulder doctoral student in communication, recently created a solution to this problem in the form of a software application, or app, for mobile devices. It turns everyday language into a Twitter syntax used during disasters through a special smart phone keyboard.
“Twitter has become popular during disasters because it offers a concise and efficient communication medium,” said Schaefer, who was inspired by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire near Boulder. “However, a need to standardize the syntaxes used on Twitter has surfaced particularly for the emergency personnel, affected individuals, concerned loved ones, information officers and journalists who use it to provide and monitor information and collaborate on rescue efforts.”
The free app, called the Bucket Brigade Keyboard, is designed for Android devices. It transforms the standard smart phone keyboard display into a keypad of 12 message choices such as “help,” “location” and “request.” When these messages are selected, corresponding tweets — about one’s status, needs and offers to help — are queued for posting online.
“In a disaster, communication and working together can save lives,” said Schaefer. “Just as a bucket brigade fills and passes buckets of water to help put out a fire, this app allows people to fill and pass buckets of tweets to help during a disaster.”
The syntax used in Schaefer’s app — which turns an “I’m Ok” key into “#imok” — is based on a concept devised in 2009 by doctoral student Kate Starbird of CU’s Project EPIC (Empowering the Public with Information in Crisis) research group. The streamlining of disaster-related Twitter communication through Starbird’s idea, called “Tweak the Tweet,” makes the information computationally easier to extract and collate, which can help connect people with needs to responders.
Nearly 3,000 tweets using the Tweak the Tweet syntax were posted in the weeks following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. More than 500 tweets using the syntax were posted in the wake of the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo.
During those instances, users manually entered text that now can be deployed with the touch of a button through the Bucket Brigade Keyboard.
The app not only empowers people with a standard language, but also is designed for convenience using accessible technology, according to Schaefer.
“People are going to be holding smart phones during disasters,” he said. “They’re not going to be going to laptop computers or cafés with time to look up the syntax.”
Schaefer entered the Bucket Brigade Keyboard in the Federal Communications Commission’s Apps for Communities contest. The challenge calls for apps that help local government deliver quality-of-life-improving information to populations that are typically disenfranchised or disconnected from broadband communications.
The Bucket Brigade Keyboard has been downloaded in 20 countries.
Schaefer says a planned update to the Bucket Brigade Keyboard will add more Twitter shortcuts to the app, as well as auto-fill and auto-correction features.
For more information on the Bucket Brigade Keyboard visit https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bucketbrigade.softkeyboard&feature=search_result. For information on the Apps for Communities challenge visit http://appsforcommunities.challenge.gov/.
-CU-
