Hundreds of Firefighters are Battling a 6,000-acre Wildfire in Colorado

In Colorado hundreds of firefighters are battling a 6,000-acre wildfire that is threatening cities approximately 142 miles south of the city of Denver. The extremely low humidity and wind gusts that are occurring is the cause of these horrific problems that 730 people working on this fire are facing.

 When interviewing Allie Kennedy, she said, “It is so important to have firefighters during these disasters to be capable to save lives and homes.”  There are areas of the fire that still have not been exposed to the strong winds in the past few days. Rocky Mountain fire incident team told CNN that the fire is now at 5% containment. The fire has even caused complete destruction of a house, earlier this week. When interviewing, Mackenzie Jones, she said, “It is so sad to hear that so many people have lost their homes and everything that belongs to them.” 

The Incident Management Team said that lightning started the fire September 8. The combination of low humidity and extremely high winds have created a significant potential for spotting.

 A group of highly trained firefighters-paramedics called the Rapid Extraction Module, is working on this Decker Fire. When interviewing, Evan Lauda, he said, “It's crazy that these firefighters were battling a 6,000 acre wildfire that threatened so many people's lives including theirs.” 

This team is trained in high and low angle rope rescues. These rescuers create rope and pulley systems to extract the injured firefighters in order to get them to a location in which a helicopter or ambulance can land to transport them to a hospital. 

While these firefighters are battling the fire, they are risking their lives, and many have faced severe injuries. Having helicopters and ambulances on call 24/7 is so important during these times.