Government Officials Meet With High Park Fire Victims
LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Victims in the High Park Fire burning west of Fort Collins have a lot of questions for politicians when it comes to recovery.
About 25 homeowners got the chance to get those questions answered on Thursday. They packed the Red Feather Lakes Library to talk to local, state and federal officials regarding the High Park Fire.
Rep. Cory Gardner was among those who met with homeowners affected by the fire. The Republican representing Northern Colorado was struck by the massive impact the fire had on the community.
"It's incredible to see areas you saw were forested that will now be a generation before starting to revitalize again," said Gardner.
The meeting was an opportunity for those to voice their concerns, opinions and changes should another fire ignite.
Some of the questions focused on how the federal government and federal agencies are chipping in to pay the enormous cost of fighting the fire.
Other questions centered on personal safety, response time and emergency notifications.
Lawmakers said those concerns will get top priority when they work on finding solutions and procedures to make things operations better in the future.
Those in attendance were satisfied with the showing of support.
"Incredible, unprecedented, I don't think I've ever been in a meeting before where all three levels of government from local down to national were represented," said one resident.
Another big topic raised at the meeting was beetle kill trees and how to get rid of the trees that pose a serious risk. Rep. Gardner sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture asking for assistance in removing those trees from Colorado forests.
