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PARK CITY — Could it happen here? Hundreds of homes up in smoke in a mammoth, fast-moving wildfire like the one that has devastated areas in and around Colorado Springs?
Park City leaders are concerned it could happen to their city, with steep slopes on both sides of town, plenty of dry fuels and hotter weather ahead.
"We are up next to a lot of things that can burn. And we saw in Colorado some really nice houses like we have in Park City that are surrounded by brush and by trees that just went up like that when a big fire gets rolling through," said city emergency program manager Hugh Daniels.
He said there are a lot more similarities in the landscapes of Park City and Colorado Springs than there are differences.
The city council on Thursday approved fire restrictions that ban most fireworks and open fires within city limits through Halloween.
Though much of Park City looks green right now, Deputy fire marshal Kurt Simister showed KSL the hidden danger lurking close to the ground, even downtown.
Related:
Crews battling Colo. wildfire hold flames in check
Crews battling the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history say they were better prepared to take on the flames because of lessons learned fighting last year's Waldo Canyon Fire, a similarly devastating blaze that devoured hundreds of homes and killed two people only a few miles away."You get down where the duff is," he said, prying his hands between long blades of wild green grass and weeds. "That's where the dry material is. It's really dry."
"That'd ignite quickly," he said, holding up a tuft of brown, dead grass.
It wouldn't even take an untimely lightning strike to cause a problem, Simister said, just a discarded cigarette.
"We're extremely worried," he said. "All the conditions are right for a wild land fire."
According to Simister, the fire would only accelerate up the mountain if it hit the steep neighbouring slopes.
Some residents said they were resolved to the danger, which is present most years.
"You just deal with what you deal with," said Jeff Hommel, a Summit Park resident who was about to take a bike ride in the hills above Park City. "I've seen fires start with a broken bottle and the sun magnified it and turned it into a wildfire."
Unfortunately we still have people who do dumb stuff up here. People should not be complacent just because we haven't had a big fire.
–Hugh Daniels, Park City emergency program manager
Park City resident Mare Piper recalled a close call last year, a brush fire that temporarily displaced some of her friends.
"It came less than a mile from there and I know that some of my friends were moving out their artwork and such," she said. "Knowing that can happen again is terribly frightening."
Daniels pleaded with residents and visitors to use common sense and caution this summer.
"Unfortunately we still have people who do dumb stuff up here," Daniels said. "People should not be complacent just because we haven't had a big fire."
