Boulder Flooding; I Left NH for This?

Neighbors-

We know this has been a difficult situation for all of you, and we would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding. Please be assured that we are working as hard as we can to restore road access, utilities and some semblance of normal life to all of you. Many of our volunteer firefighters have had less than 6 hours of sleep since this disaster began, and county-wide and state-wide resources are stretched extremely thin. Our first priority is always life safety, and we are just now beginning to get on top of the backlog of extreme danger situations. What you can see from you home and/or media reports is the only the tip of the iceberg, as the most severe problems are in inaccessible locations.

Conditions have been changing extremely rapidly throughout this incident and continue to change. It has thus been very difficult to send out communications to you all that we have any confidence is accurate. Here is what we know right now, but please be advised that this can change with no notice. We continue to have new landslides and road collapses, so please be patient if conditions are different than what you have been told.

1) Emergency egress from Boulder Heights, Carriage Hills, Valley Lane, Wagon Wheel Gap, and Bow Mountain Road is not possible via any route at this time. If you have a life safety emergency, call 911 and we will try to get to you to help. Many of our firefighters are trapped inside the road collapses and have been working since this began to address issues in their area.

2) Emergency egress from North Cedarbrook and any of the roads that feeds is not possible due to a severe road collapse. This is a major road problem that we anticipate taking many days to repair, so we are working on alternative evacuation plans for this area.

3) Emergency egress from other areas of Pine Brook Hills is now possible via Linden Drive only. The most extreme road conditions are near the bottom of the hill, and we have just completed improving the road enough that we anticipate being able to allow vehicular egress for passenger cars in the morning. Do not evacuate until it is light, however.

4) The Bristlecone evacuation route to Sunshine Canyon that was in use this morning is now completely blocked due to a major road collapse.

5) Law enforcement is enforcing a complete roadblock on all roads leading into the district, so if you choose to evacuate, you will not be allowed to re-enter the district. There are no exceptions to this policy until further notice, and staff manning the roadblocks have no authority to over-ride this order.

6) The Pine Brook Water District is still operating and the water is safe to drink at this time. Press reports of problems with the dam are incorrect – there is not any problem with the dam and there never has been. There was a problem with a dam in Pinewood Springs, and this resulted in some incorrect reporting.

7) Xcel Energy crews are working to restore power in all areas, and have been able to turn a few areas back on already. We have numerous gas line ruptures and/or leaks, so gas service restoral will likey take longer.

8) While we are putting major efforts into restoring road access, we are also making backup plans to bring in food supplies and/or evacuate by alternate means, including the helicopters you have seen in the air today.

Thanks again for your understanding and remember that this information is subject to change with no notice.

Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District