Disaster Preparedness in Colorado Mountain Towns: What Every Resident Needs to Know | Ep 5

Wildfire season in Colorado mountain towns is no longer a distant possibility, it is something communities must actively prepare for. In this episode of Real Estate in the Rockies, Ashley Kappel and Jessica Chariton sit down with Chaffee County Public Health Director Andrea Carlstrom to discuss wildfire preparedness, evacuation planning, emergency communication systems, air quality concerns, and what residents can do right now to protect their homes, families, pets, and communities.

Andrea shares lessons learned from the Decker Fire, explains how emergency response systems work behind the scenes, and offers practical advice for creating evacuation plans, building a go kit, protecting older adults and vulnerable neighbors, and navigating disaster recovery after the immediate emergency is over.

This conversation is essential listening for anyone living in Colorado mountain communities, rural areas, or wildfire-prone regions.

In This Episode:

• Why wildfire preparedness matters now more than ever
• What Chaffee County is doing behind the scenes to prepare
• How the emergency response network actually works
• What to include in a wildfire go kit
• Why evacuation plans need backup plans
• The importance of Everbridge emergency alerts
• How wildfire smoke impacts mountain communities
• Mistakes people make during evacuations
• How neighbors can support vulnerable residents
• What disaster recovery looks like after reentry
• Why community resilience matters in mountain towns

Key Takeaway:

“The time to plan and prepare is not during a disaster.” — Andrea Carlstrom

Andrea Carlstrom has served as the Director of Chaffee County Public Health for more than a decade, overseeing programs focused on public health, emergency preparedness, behavioral health, chronic disease prevention, aging well initiatives, and community resilience. Throughout her career, she has worked across multiple healthcare settings including behavioral health, pharmacy, and hospital administration. Andrea has played a key leadership role in emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts throughout Chaffee County, including wildfire response, public health coordination, and community resilience planning.

Website: http://www.chaffeecounty.org

Link to Everbridge Emergency App: https://chaffeecounty.org/departments/sheriff/communications/everbridge.php 

FEMA Checklist for Disaster Preparedness

https://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_b.pdf

Real Estate in the Rockies is the podcast exploring Colorado mountain real estate, housing, land use, development, zoning, community growth, and mountain living in Salida, Buena Vista, Chaffee County, and communities across the Rockies.

Hosted by Colorado real estate attorney Ashley Kappel and local realtor Jessica Chariton, the show brings together developers, community leaders, housing experts, investors, and local voices to break down the conversations shaping mountain towns today.

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Transcript

0:00

Hi, I'm Jessica Chariton with Real Estate in the Rockies podcast, and I'm here with Ashley Kappel. And we had the pleasure of talking with Andrea Carlstrom today. She's the director of Chaffee County Public Health. And she's been with the county for a long time through the Decker fire and through COVID. And now we're really concerned. We wanted to talk to her about disaster preparedness this summer with the drought we're facing in Colorado and small mountain communities, the possibility of wildfire. And she had a lot of good tips and a lot of checklist ideas. And I learned a lot. Made us both want to go home and get busy taking care of some things. I think the biggest takeaway for me was she kept saying when we have something happen, not it. If when? Get ready. You'll learn a lot. Welcome to Real Estate in the Rockies, a Colorado real estate podcast focused on mountain town real estate. I'm Ashley Capel, real estate attorney. And I'm Jessica Chariton, local realtor. And we're here to help you understand what's really happening in the Rockies. You're getting both a legal perspective and real world experience so you can make smarter, more confident decisions in the Colorado real estate market. Follow Real Estate in the Rockies so you don't miss an episode and share it with someone who cares about the future of our mountain communities. Because in the Rockies, real estate isn't just about property, it's about community. Welcome to Real Estate in the Rockies podcast today. Our guest is Andrea Carlstrom. She is the director of Chivi County Public Health. We're very excited to have you here today. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. This is exciting. What a treat. Fun for us too. Yeah, so we're just going to dive right in. Okay. Wanted to talk to you a lot about the summer conditions. There's drought right now and Colorado and the potential for a serious fire risk. That can feel a little bit abstract to people. And when you look at the summer specifically, what does the risk actually look like in Chivi County? Well, great question. I should probably back up and just talk a little bit about public health's role in emergency preparedness and response. Because I'm probably an unlikely candidate to be part of this interview. However, I don't think many people in the public know that we have a contract as Chivi County Public Health with the state for public health emergency preparedness. And it involves a lot of planning, exercises, drills, meetings, collaborating and coordinating with our emergency management at the county level, our elected officials. And so just know that public health is one of many sectors that is invested in ensuring that our community is prepared for any natural or human made disaster. Of course, wildfire is on everyone's minds. Maybe not today as we record this because we are actually getting some moisture, which is really well needed. And it is projected that because of just the lack of moisture that we've had for months, that we are in for a very dynamic and challenging wildfire season. We've already started seeing that in other states and in other counties. And so here in Chivi County, we do everything we can so that not only are responders prepared for what's to come, but our community is expecting and planning as well. It is certainly on everyone's mind, every meeting, everywhere I go. Folks want to just talk about how crispy it is and what an uncertain and challenging wildfire season is most likely upon us. And so I think it is really important for us to be having these conversations and to equip our community with tools and their tool belts so that they are ready to roll when we do have a disaster. So you stated that the state is actually who gave you the jurisdiction, I guess, over paying attention to things like this and preparing the community for it. What other entities, I'm going off script a little bit, but I'd like to understand what other entities in the community are you coordinating with when you're saying we're having meetings? Who else is there that's discussing this and other public preparedness issues? Yeah. So like you said, direct access to state as well as regional assets. So we do a lot of work with El Paso, Teller, Park counties, sometimes Lake County, sometimes Summit counties. So we belong to several different regions on emergency preparedness and response. And here locally, we have a strong emergency services council that is led by, we've got all of these different emergency services functions that are part of what's called the incident command system. And so for instance, public health is the lead for what's called the ESF 8, which is health and medical. So when we have an incident here in the county, we are deployed to respond to the operation center. And we've got all these folks, some working in law enforcement, some in fire, external affairs, sometimes the schools gets involved. Yeah. EMS, HRMC, we've got a whole robust stakeholder group that meets on a regular basis to talk about our planning, our preparedness, our response to live events as well. And just to ensure that we are a strong network, that we have relationships in place, and we're ready to roll whenever there is an incident, whether it's a wildfire or some other kind of situation. And then as far as the health and medical part of that, we need on a regular basis. So that would be public health, Sylvester Health as our disaster behavioral health provider, EMS, Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, emergency management, and our elected officials to talk about how are we preparing and how are we posturing ourselves as a health and medical wing of our response to make sure again, we're equipped, and we're ready to respond to whatever situation comes our way. Helps me have a bigger picture. There's a lot of people involved in this. So it depends on the situation. It has varied depending on what we have going on as a county, but at any time we will be meeting monthly. And then sometimes we've scaled back quarterly just depending on what the need is and how valuable the meetings are too. We don't want just to meet for the sake of meeting, but really wanting to iron out what are those updates. And of course, public health brings its own flair. I love to talk about infectious disease, communicable disease, vector-borne disease, public health threats to our community. And then the other partners bring their subject matter expertise. So it's really just a great way for us as leaders in response to come together, making sure that we're on the same sheet of music, and then also coordinating and collaborating what our community outreach and public information looks like as well. So I mean, I guess you're the health medical team, but what can you tell our listeners that they need to be prepared for in the event of a disaster? Well, the time to plan prepare is not during a disaster. And so I think, you know, we always need to be thinking a little bit ahead of the game, not for when the fire strikes, but for when we do start to detect that the conditions are right for, say, a wildfire. So I think it is really important to start that planning early to make sure that you have plans with your family members, with your neighbors. And there's some great resources out there, FEMA, AARP, they have just so many opportunities, checklists, all the things that you've never thought of in order to prepare for a wildfire. Also, the evacuation piece of it. So what can you do now in anticipation of getting evacuated? I think most people out there think, well, that could never happen in my neighborhood. And I think the Decker fire was a great example of, A, we had the luxury of time, we saw the fire brewing for quite some time. And when it crested over Methodist, many of those subdivisions already had their valuables packed, they already had their go-kits. But I think just some fundamental things to think about, what is your go-kit? Whenever I give a public health preparedness presentation to members of our community, many are older adults, like, "Ah, I've never thought about having a go-kit." So thinking through the contents of that and where you store it too. So for a go-kit, if you take medication, or you have prescriptions, prescription glasses, those kinds of things, you definitely want to make sure that you have those packed, or at least a list of them, right? You want to have your insurance information. What is the breakdown of your homeowners insurance? You also want to think through, do you have flood insurance, fire insurance, earthquake insurance, depending on where you live, and to make sure that you have a safe place for that. I know a lot of people put that on a USB drive, and they stick all that information into their go-kit. You want to think through having several sets of clothing. You may be evacuated for hours, or you may be evacuated for days. And so thinking through, what are those essentials that you're going to need for the short term? And then also, if you have kids, or even some adults, sometimes when you're evacuated, shelter, that is not very entertaining. And oftentimes, it's traumatic when you are evacuated. So thinking through, what are those activities or distractions that you can pack in your go-kit, like cards or puzzles, so that you as an adult, and if you have children, can occupy those little mines as well in what is a very irregular situation. You want to also think through having water, snacks, non-perishable snacks, it does no good to pack something that is going to go awry. And so really start thinking about what is the most appropriate set of ingredients for your go-kit. It's going to look different for everyone. Flashlights, you're going to want cell phone chargers. See, these are things that if you don't have a checklist, or if you don't have your bag packed, and you are asked to evacuate on a moment's notice, these are things that you're likely going to forget. And so making sure that you have that go-kit is really important. Same thing with an evacuation plan. We know that incidents not always happen when everyone is home, right? And so thinking through, well, I might be at work, while my kids are at school, while my partner's traveling. So what is our evacuation plan? Where do we meet? Do we meet at a friend's house? Do we meet at a public place? Or do we just meet at the evacuation site? Which in J.V. County, one of the main evacuation sites tends to be the J.V. County Fairgrounds. I was going to ask if that makes sense. Yeah. And another thing, just easy thing to do to be prepared is registering on Everbridge. So Everbridge is our county's emergency communications mechanism, so that when there is an incident, our sheriff's office can push out text messages, or phone, or email, just depending on what kind you sign up for, so that you are aware of what evacuations are taking place, as well as the kind of injects for every incident, as well as when it's safe to return home. I had no idea about that. I know about Everbridge. I registered, I'd probably be as new. It's so great. And it's so simple. It's free. Of course, it's not foolproof, but it does allow messaging to go out to the masses in one swoop, so that there is very little confusion as possible. Well, I know the schools have their own similar system, and I'm definitely on that. But the summer, yeah, you probably will all look that up and make sure we'll put it in the show notes. Well, as a responder, too, I think one of the interesting things about our society is just when we think that we're nailing communications, we can always do a better job. And so again, Everbridge is a great way to get that initial communications out. And then there are so many other ways to communicate with our public as a situation of ours. Wow, that's good to know. That'll be really fun. I wanted to know more about, so Chaffee County Fairgrounds is one of the main evacuation meetup sites. Like, where should you not go? Yeah, it probably depends on the situation. Okay. Honest. Like, if there's wildfire, obviously. Yeah, don't go try the fire. Yeah, you know, I think we really need to just be accountable and responsible. I think in our community, when there is an incident, everyone rushes to help out those that are impacted. The Decker fire, again, is a great example of, and I as a person who was evacuated and then hopped to my role as public health response, the amount of people reaching out wanting to know if any housing was needed, if there was going to be a shelter established, where can they donate baked goods, and where can restaurants donate lunch and meals and that kind of thing. And so, you know, thinking through that phenomenon that happens in such a generous county, it's sort of like one of those things like, don't ask us, we'll ask you. So, I know very well intentioned community members rush to the site of the evacuation center because they want to help. And in a moment of response, especially in wildfire evacuations, it is just imperative to let the people, the right people on site to be able to manage and navigate the situation. And then again, usually over the course of an event, there's a call out to the community or to community partners on what is needed. And that information will be disseminated when it's needed. So, don't muddy up the waters by jumping in too soon. I can totally see that here. Radio stations do such a good job live time with pushing out information. We've got kind of a core communications group that we established early on in a situation so that we're pushing, hopefully pushing out consistent messaging. During the pandemic, we had message boards at all of our big box stores that we were like, not everyone listens to the radio, reads print newspaper, is online. How do you reach those people that may not even know what media channels we have here because they're visiting. Yeah, an incident could very well impact them. Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, then we work with pushing out kind of just old school information on billboards and on CDOT signs. When it comes to tourists, we also work closely with our visitors bureau, with our chambers of commerce, making sure that tourists know whether it's the right time to come to our county or not. Also, another element of this is air quality. So, there may not be an incident happening here in Chaffee County, but we know once wildfires start peaking in Utah and Nevada, that wildfire smoke just gets socked into the Arkansas Valley. I remember from California, it was on fire. It was like all the way here and you couldn't open your windows. You're like, where's the fire? Three days away. Yeah. And so, you know, it's not uncommon during those times for folks to call our office and be like, what are you doing about the wildfire? I was like, oh goodness, I wish I could just wave our magic wand and that wildfire smoke would go away, but not the case. And so, we certainly push out messaging around for tourists and residents alike, just letting folks know where the wildfire smoke may be coming from, whether it's due to a prescribed burn or whether it's due to an actual event and making sure that those that are high risk know that we have purple air monitoring across the county. And you can go on the Purple Air Monitor website to find out what the air quality is and then what to do if you're high, moderate, or low risk. Another piece of the puzzle, just making sure that our community is aware and prepared. And whenever, I don't know about you all, but when I start to smell wildfire smoke in the air, I get a little anxious. I get a little nervous. You don't know where it's coming from. And so, this is another way that we can push out messaging so that our county is prepared and can take mitigation efforts themselves as well. I didn't know about Purple Air Monitor. I didn't either. Where is that website? I bet you can just Google it. You can Google it. Purple Air marketing. Okay. So, you said one of the things people get wrong is rushing to the site to help, but it kind of makes things difficult. Is there anything else that you see people making assumptions about or like common mistakes in a disaster? Maybe during the decafire or even during the pandemic when it was a more moving disaster? Sure. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that people who do not want to follow said evacuation orders. So, we have a lot of stoic, strong, proud, multi-generational families here in this county that their home is their pride. And in many disasters we've seen across the country, there sometimes is a resistance to evacuate that some folks, residents, want to just stick it out or pull up their bootstraps and just try to navigate it themselves. And the evacuation, pre-evacuation, evacuation orders are established for a very good reason. And when folks don't follow them, it makes responders' lives and response— Yes, in danger. Yep. So, you know, they have to go knocking on each door, trying to figure out who's there, who's not there, how to mitigate all of that. So, yeah, that is really important. And I completely understand—or some people don't take the threat seriously. And again, that does us no justice here in this county, especially I know how hard our responders work. And, you know, they work here, they serve here, they live here too. And so, just making sure that we follow those. And hopefully they're short-lived. They are certainly an inconvenience. And what I really appreciate about the Decker fire is that even though we were all evacuated in the middle of the night, we got the reverse—it's like a reverse 911, the Everbridge system. And many people did follow it. You know, I'm thinking about my own neighborhood. We have a lot of older adults in my neighborhood that are probably on medications that help them sleep, that they may not just jump up and be ready to spring into action to evacuate. Yeah, they may not hear their phone. And so, really thinking through, you know, who are our neighbors and how can we help them in the event of evacuation as well. And that is such a beautiful thing to be neighbors helping out neighbors, especially when you know that you have neighbors with access and functional needs, that they may take a little bit longer to evacuate. You know, another piece of this, too, is the things sort of to do or not to do before an event, taking photos of the contents of your home. That way you can compare it not only to pre-event, but also if there is damage to your home, you can compare that upon re-entry. I think that is something that folks don't think about, but something so easy to do ahead of time. Put that on a USB or save it to your smartphone. And then that way you have it in the event of a wildfire in which there's a long-term evacuation, maybe damage done. You may not remember what the house looked like when you left. And so, just kind of cataloging all of those things is really important. One thing that also happened during the Decker fire that we just need to be mindful of is that because many of those subdivisions had means or friends or family that they had been planning on evacuating to in case the fire came over the hillside, is we don't know where people have gone. And so, we can't account for them. We have such an active county that at any given time, someone's on vacation, someone's on a conference, someone's staying with their children in another town. And so, really thinking through if you are in town before you go to that next place, at least checking in with the evacuation center to say, "Hey, the Carlstrom House has checked in. We're okay. And this is where I'm going." Kind of to Denver or whatever. Yeah, to Denver. Exactly. So, they're not looking for you later. Exactly. So, wasting their time. But you just don't think about those things in the event of an emergency. We kind of go into that fight or flight mode. And so, again, thinking through what is your plan, sharing it with your neighbors, letting the evacuation site know what's going on. And then moving on to a safe place. I think another thing to be mindful of in this day and age is the harm that social media can present in the event of an emergency. I know most people are posting out of the kindness of their hearts. I really want to believe that. And misinformation or toxic comments in the event of an emergency is really detrimental to the response. And so, very early on in an event like the Decker fire, Facebook page was created. And it was continuously hammered into everyone, "Go to this page. This is the source for information related to the fire." Everyone else starts their ad hoc posting, but it's just really important to be mindful that social media is a powerful tool and it can help us, but it can also hurt us, especially in the event of a disaster. So, checking in with your organization saying, "Is this the verified social media source?" That's a credible source. And I think today, gosh, social media can be a Pandora's box. And for a community like ours that is tight-knit and really relies on each other and each other's generosity and neighborliness, it's really important to know credible sources of information and not let all the others kind of cloud our judgment and our decision-making. Yeah. I mean, I'm thinking about the older adults. Like, I think of my in-laws and they were hearing aids and they can't hear anything at night, you know, let alone that's a real risk. You bet. Yeah, we've been working on, and there are pros and cons to this. It's a really, it sounds easy, but it's harder to do in practice, is devising an access and functional needs list of residents who have hearing aids or are on durable medical equipment, maybe on oxygen, so that we kind of know where those folks reside, so that we can, in a response, most likely EMS or another medical partner, could be deployed to go to those residences to make sure if they are in harm's way that we can help them get to an evacuation site or a safe place. Similarly, are you working with the school district too? So, I'm assuming you are. Like, if somebody is in school hours, it's like, okay, all the kids are taking care of this way or we, because I know that's a big issue. The school does thrills for other incidences, but. Yeah, the schools and so many other stakeholders out in the community are valuable partners. And so, we have a new emergency manager here in this county, which is really exciting and a new opportunity for him to engage with all of these critical partners. But that's where the value of that emergency services council comes up, because you do have stakeholders around the room giving their updates, sharing what their needs are and any drills or exercises that might be coming up that we can all participate in as responders. It's comforting. Nice to know that's happening. I mean, behind the scenes, look at what's really going on. Yeah, we have a really strong emergency services network here in Chaffee County, and we also work closely with the neighboring counties and their departments as well. And I think that where we have an opportunity to shine even further is making sure that everybody here in Chaffee County, whether you're a resident, a visitor, a tourist alike, knows what the kind of playing field looks like here in this county and are better prepared to protect themselves and the people that they care about. We also work really closely with the BLM and with the US Forest Service. Okay, yeah. With those working on the river, with all of the tourism outfits here in the county as appropriate, just to make sure that they all know what's going on, that we have open lines of communication. And again, we're just a stronger network when the time comes and that bad day happens here in this county. Rich, hopefully you've done that. Yeah, I love your office. I know your job is literally to think about the worst case scenario and make all of us consider that there could be a worst case scenario. Yeah, in this line of work, I mean, I started with disaster response and emergency preparedness when I worked in behavioral health and I was part of the disaster behavioral health team. And I think what is really essential in this day and age is that we include emotional support, even before there is an incident, right? Because we can all respond to incidents in different ways. Maybe it may not be as an evacuee that day one, it may have been a month later. And so making sure that I'm connected as a responder and as a resident to emotional support. And I really loved that role that I got to play in our region when I represented them. And so kind of moving into the public health we all need each other in any incident. And so I think taking all of these lessons learned that we've had from Decker fire, from the pandemic, from the most recent Northern Buena Vista fire, which is, you know, across like it was, you know, kind of a Lake County, Chaffee County thing. It was almost on the border there. Yeah. And so really thinking through, you know, how do we cover all of our bases? So we've thought about everything possible to ensure a strong response and a resilient community. I had a house that didn't close because of that fire. That's what I think of. It was the day before their closing day. And the fire burnt down trees on their property, but not their house. Because I think there's only two homes lost in that fire. That's my understanding. Yeah. So the trees that burnt down allowed the buyer to back out because the property wasn't in the same condition that it had been agreed upon at execution of the contract. Well, and you bring in a unique perspective, right? Like when a community has a disaster such as a wildfire, which is our most likely scenario, it's not only the responders or the people directly impacted. It is our whole ecosystem of our community. It's our business community. It's yet real estate. We have so many different sectors and perspectives and insights here in this community. When we're talking about large animals and evacuation. Oh yeah. That's for sure. You know, luckily we have a great relationship with the fairgrounds and we have in the Humane Society, we've got loads of plans on how to navigate those situations. And you know, our domestic furry friends, but you know, you may not be at home when you're evacuated, but you left Fido at home. So what is your plan there? Do you have a plan with your neighbors to say, "Hey, you know, you know that I'm, you know, out of town. Would you mind checking in or grabbing them?" And so I think there's just such an impact that something like a wildfire, a flood, an active shooter, and there's so many scenarios that could happen in a community. And again, it's not just impacting, you know, black and white groups of people, but it's really the heartbeat of our community that's impacted. Is Chaffee County unique in having that emergency council or is that everywhere? I was going to ask a little bit more about Park County. Well, what I will say, I don't want to speak on behalf of every county in general. I think the short answer is yes. But what I tell people all the time that come to Chaffee County, and I'll just use Chaffee County Public Health as an example, they come and they're like, "Oh my gosh, I came from Boulder. I came from Kansas. I came from somewhere else." And they're like, either A, they want to everything that I should be doing or our department should be doing that went on in their communities. Or they're like, "Oh my gosh, we didn't have this on our community. This is so cool. How are you able to do this?" And I always say, if you've seen one local public health agency, you've only seen one because it is oftentimes comparing apples to oranges. But I will say in general from what I know across the state, most counties do have an emergency manager or maybe a shared emergency management team. They have all of these different ESF leads, and they do have some type of that emergency services function. All of these different, like you've got law enforcement, you've got health and medical, you've got mass care. We haven't really even talked about that. So anyways, so many different partners in a response that are all working together. And that's the value of having a counsel so that you're not just meeting each other for the first time during an incident. But you know who you can call after hours, what their personalities are like, what they're passionate about, what their skill sets are. And guess what? You've probably planned with them, exercised with them, not physically, but- Yeah, ran thrills. Yeah, running scenarios and so then you're just a stronger response team in that regard. But yeah, in general, I would say that the intent of the state is to have regional work happening, statewide work happening, regional work happening. And then on a county to county level, hopefully providing assets so that there's personnel and funding to be ready for any event that comes its way. Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I wonder about is when we were living in BV and that Northern BV fire and Twin Lakes happened, we were getting very real time information from our HOA, who was very much dialed into people were like tracking, going to the, you know, the news conference or whatever the town hall. And so somebody was disinterming that information because there were a lot of older adults in our community and maybe they didn't have access to everything that they needed. That's a great point of contact. You know, I wonder if that's something that other HOAs do or should do. Yeah, most definitely. I think that's a great idea. I'm the HOA president of Methodist Mountain State. Again, this has been the second time. I passed up a ton and the ton came back to me. But, you know, I have reached out to my HOA residents to say, hey, you know, this is an interesting part of my career and my job where I do these presentations to community groups. If you all would like to pull together some residents, I'd be happy to do a public health 101 for emergency preparedness and response. And so that is definitely something that we can look at. And yet to have either your HOA president or an appointee be that point of contact and be pushing out information is really just what a gift to have those relationships, to know your neighbors and to know how to communicate with them in preparedness and in response. Yeah. One other question I'm thinking of, what tends to separate, so if we're looking at Chaffee County as a whole, what tends to separate those who do well in a disaster and those who really struggle and you've already mentioned something like the mobility issues or other health issues. Yeah. Like how do we, I guess, being prepared, I'm thinking of my own answer. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think we can all do our way to be prepared so that we do weather whatever storm comes our way. I don't think just because you have a vulnerability doesn't mean that if you don't, you're not going to be emotionally or physically impacted, but you know, having those plans that are going to look different per household, also being aware of your surroundings and knowing, you know, what are those pinch points. Some of our subdivisions have one way in and one way out. And so what is that evacuation plan if your road is one of the ones that's impacted? But, you know, having the conversation early, having your plans in place, having your redundancy plans in place. So if plan A doesn't work, moving to plan B, having those go kits, cataloging all of your valuables, making sure you have a plan for your furry friends or animals on property. You know, also thinking through how you can set your household up for success when you're about to be evacuated, like backing in your car so that you can just jump in your car and go, making sure that your windows are sealed and that doors are sealed, that there's now materials for new patios that are fire resistant. There's just so many things that you can do ahead of time to prepare for that really bad day so that when the time comes and there's an incident, whether you're evacuated or on pre evacuation, you know in your heart you've done everything you can to protect your property and the people that you care most about. Great. That's a deal with after. I feel like I need to go home and make a plan. I agree. I'm a full believer in checklists. Again, when we're faced with a challenge, many of us freeze or go into like fight mode. And it's so helpful to have those checklists. I even, I brought one with me because it's so simple. And yet, every time I've presented it to members of our community, they're like, I didn't think of that. I was like, I know because in our society, we tend to live in this pendulum of panic or neglect when things are going really well. And then an incident slaps us in the face and it's like complete panic. But imagine a society in which we're like, we're not going to let the situation get the best of us. We're going to have our A game on. We've thought about all these scenarios. We've, you know, even thinking about having some savings set aside for emergency. Not everyone has money and savings to stay at a hotel or to gas money to get out of the county if there is an incident. So again, just thinking through, and there's so many resources online these days. I said FEMA, American Red Cross is another amazing partner. When we've had a few incidents here, they have come from the front range to support us. And so I'm making sure that we've done our due diligence. And so when that day comes and we're anxious and fearful and uncertain of what's to come, at least we've prepared as much as we possibly can and get ourselves and our property as safe as possible. Yeah. Wow. Well, this has been so helpful. I feel like we want to wrap up with some rapid fire questions. Just so listeners can do this. This is the fun, fun part. You don't have to be cute. I'm so used to rapid fire. Won't be hard at all. They welcomed us as well. But you know, I just, I really think it is important for our community not to be naive to think that the incident isn't going to happen here. That's what it's like out to me when you're talking, you're saying when we have an incident. Every night. Not in, but when. And it may be a different incident. Fire, flood, whatever it is. But when we have an incident. And then the other thought that comes to mind. I liked how you ran through like plan with your household, have a backup plan, have the checklist. So that I'm just going to start with that myself. Yeah. Start with something simple. I know it can feel overwhelming, but again, to answer the question of like, what can we do now so that we're not in a state of panic or anxiety or fear or anger? You know, nobody wants to be evacuated or nobody wants to be inconvenienced by a disaster. How can we, you know, get ourselves just in a place where we don't have to worry about that? And then also let the responders know, you know, where are communities vulnerabilities? How can we catalog access and functional needs, which is just an emergency preparedness term to include all of our vulnerable populations? How do we make accommodations for evacuation centers? And then also thinking through, I know we always focus on the evacuation or the response to the incident and everything like that, but also not only do we need to be thinking about the evacuation plan, but what's reentry look like? So how did you leave the house? Did you leave the dishes in the sink? Did you leave dinner on the, you know, table or the counter? Did electricity go out? What animals have come in? What rodents that animals have shelter in your home? You know, a lot of folks here in this county have deep freezers and they have a lot of valuable meat that, you know, is stored in those freezers. Well, if the electricity goes out for a long time and it's not on a backup generator, there's going to be a problem when you reenter your house. So thinking through not only the evacuation plan, but the reentry plan. So what I always say is have a bucket that's going to have, you know, water, baking soda, masks, because you might open the door and you may not like what you smell in your house. You can do rubber gloves, clothing with long sleeves. These are things that like you just don't think about, you know, the condition of your well. So making sure that you have extra water on hand. And so, you know, I know we've been really talking about the evacuation piece and planning, but yeah, there's a whole other component of reentry that I folks think, thank goodness, I'm finally allowed back in my house. I just want life as normal. It's not going to be normal. Well, and the community may not be there after going through something like that. Exactly. So an incident doesn't end with the incident. Any community should be thinking about recovery and resilience. And for some communities that have tragedies occur, that resilience piece may happen over the course of months or years. And so I think I'd like to think that here in Chaffee County, we have such a resilient community. And we're, you know, we're here for the long haul. If we need to continue on touching base with responders and community members, there are a multitude of methods to be able to do that. Thank you so much. Grateful that you are in this role. Thank you. Leader and the community and it's so important. Yeah, I mean, this gig is one in which every day I just pinch myself and I'm like, I get to live and serve and work here. And I think you both know and folks that are tuning into this podcast know Chaffee County is such a special place and many of us sacrifice a lot to live here. And so there's a lot at stake. And I'm just grateful that we get to live in a community that prioritizes preparedness, response, resilience and recovery. Thank you. We'll ask you your questions quickly. So we can wrap up here. Land with a view or walkable to downtown. Oh, land with a view. First job you ever had. I want to circle back around with that though, because in full disclosure, so we moved 15 years ago and I wanted to be in the thick of downtown. I wanted walkability. I just had this romantic vision of living downtown. My husband wanted to live in the San Luis Valley with no neighbors, a lot of acreage and probably not seeing a soul for days. And so we compromised with land with a view, not too far from outside of town in which we can bicycle, although Methodist Hill is pretty steep. So the incline is quite the workout. So I just wanted to say that there's value in both. Look at my first job. Your first job, yeah. Oh gosh, my first job, my first real job was working at a psychiatric residential facility in Massachusetts in which the residential part of it was for those who were living with psychotic illnesses. And they had an influx of clients, residents who were on the younger side and all of their staff were older and not connecting with the younger residents who were going through a really tough time in their lives. And so they took a risk on me and they hired me as like this young person who was just a budding psychology, sociology, and pre-med major to go in and just connect with the clients and bring them out to the mall and to the movie theater and just to normalize living with a mental illness. And so that was one of my most challenging and most rewarding jobs. And I think about those residents almost every day, a song will come on the radio. I'm like, I remember that time that we were driving the van and now we're all rocking out, going to the mall or to Harvard Square or something like that. So anyways, yeah, very memorable. What work would you be doing right now if money were no object? My team and I talk about this a lot. We are going to establish a compound on a tropical island, and we all have different roles. And so I would like to sell screen printed tank tops and trucker hats and flip flops. Perfect. Yeah, there we have it. I'd get an item in D as well as providing a service. That's your role. Clothing. Yeah, that's a different role than the way you've got going on now. And I love my job. And so that's why it's so easy to kid about that because this is really a dream gig. Cool. What is your personal mantra or motto? Well, every day I wake up and say, what magic are we going to make today? Good one. And I set the stage for whatever adversity may come my way. Let's make magic out of that challenge. Yeah, I love that. What's your favorite book or it could be a book you're reading right now too. It doesn't have to be a favorite. Oh gosh. Okay. Well, I'm not going to answer directly that question because this is something really quirky, I think about me. And so when I lived in Loveland for eight years, I started at the Loveland Public Library reading books from A to Z in the fiction section by author. I have never heard of that. Okay. And I had to choose three books at a time in order that looked remotely interesting and give them 40 pages. Now the caveat is that I am not really into like a science fiction. Sometimes I was like, it can be like edition one, two, three, four, five, like volumes. And so I don't get into that business. And so when I was in Loveland for eight years, I got to letter H. And then I've been here 15 years and I finally got to PI. So I'm reading a lot of Jodi Piccol right now. Okay. And so when I go to the library every time, they're librarians always like, and then I figure that it'll probably take me another 15 years to get through Z. And then by then that'll be a good chunk of time that now there will be new books. So I can start from A again. Stephen King is a rough one. You gotta go through a lot. So how many hours are you reading a day? Oh my gosh. That is just a weekend past time. Okay. Wow. You must read fast then. I love, I love to just read and the hard books too, not some audio book or some book on the tablet, but I love the pages. Yeah, for sure. So I know I didn't quite answer that, but probably and then some are unique. That is, I have not heard of that yet. So that like everyone is always wondering what books are you reading or like what books the next book for book club. And I was just really struggling because there's still, yeah, I just could never on the tip of my tongue be like, Oh, that's the next book that I have to read. So it's like, I'm just going to read them all in order. And then hopefully cover all of my basis. Perfect. So nerdy. No, that's really cool. So last question, what does home mean to you? Home is a safe place. Home is a place where you can be your authentic self. It is a place where you can reach your full potential and to, to cultivate your, your family, the people you love to host the people that you love to bring in positive energy and to also overcome life's challenges. I feel like home is a place where you wake up and you say, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. And I feel like I say that you can ask my team about this. I say that quite regularly, both for my home and my household and this community that is home. Yeah. Where can folks find you if they maybe not, not in an emergency. They want to learn more about the Taney County Public Health. What's, what's the best way to get in touch? There's so many ways. Yeah. I mean, we have an active Facebook page. You can just, you know, search Taney County Public Health. It pops up. Anyone can call me at really any time. So I have, you know, my office phone is 719-450-2564. My cell phone is 719-221. And so anyways, just, yeah, I think that emailing is a great way to get in touch with me because oftentimes all of us during the day are at meetings or at events and those kinds of things, but getting, responding to people off hours and getting their answers to their questions. I get a lot of random questions related to public health, environmental health, critters, animals out in our community that may or may not have rabies and other diseases. And oftentimes that is, requires a time sensitive response. So yeah, there's no shortage of reaching out to Taney County Public Health. And I would just encourage if folks are intrigued with what we have going on, or perhaps they are questioning what we have going on. I always welcome an open and honest conversation. I love what we get to do in our community. And I really want to hear from members of our community or people who are, you know, thinking about moving here and want to know if it's the right community for them. We know a lot about our resources here and I put a shameless plug for Chaffee Resources, which is your one-stop hub for all things health and wellness, chaferesources.org. And there are just so many other opportunities and resources and programs that we have here in this community. I always say there's something for everyone at Chaffee County Public Health. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It's been fun. It's great. Thank you. Thank you for everything you do. This episode of Real Estate in the Rockies is brought to you by Collegiate Peaks Law and Mediation. Hi, I'm Ashley Capel. I help people make smart, informed decisions when it comes to real estate, especially when things get complex. From contracts to land issues, I'm here to bring clarity and confidence to the legal side of your transaction. I offer legal services and mediation.