New video released shows the difficulty in evacuating during Marshall Fire
Hours of additional body camera video released showed the difficulty of law enforcement in Boulder County in getting people evacuated from last December's Marshall Fire.
The video shows people confused and panicking. Others were moving slowly in the face of the threat of a fire driven by 100 mph winds.
"Evacuation's the largest unsolved problem for emergency management across the entire United States," said Garry Briese, executive director of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs.
Notifying people of a fire spreading at thousands of feet per minute was a huge challenge. Boulder County was hindered by an ability to draw a perimeter around the fire and its "Everbridge" notification system did not adequately inform enough people of the threat.
"The problem is we've got a very mobile society and they don't know enough about it," said Briese of emergency managers around the country.
Far fewer people than years ago have landlines at fixed addresses to inform. Systems like Everbridge require people to sign up and participation in many areas in similar systems falls far short says Briese. "They've proven not to work."
Boulder County has looked at a series of additions to its notification system since the fire. It has implemented the ability to launch the Federal IPAWS notification system that enables Amber alerts.
It locates phones within a given area and sends emergency messages. That includes visitors, whose phones are there as well. The sheriff's office says it has also completed the coordination of a polygon system of mapping areas that may need alerts that can be paired with the IPAWS system. It is also attempting to add software to enable messaging in a variety of languages.
Reactions to evacuations on the ground are always varied. In recent times they have even evolved. People who have more contact via technology then make seek it before they act.
"I want to see what my neighbors are going to do. What my friends on Facebook are doing. We've been sucked into this milling if you will or crowdsourcing before we take action," Briese said.
There is a psychological impact that can also make them hesitant we should be aware of he adds.
"What you're effectively saying when you evacuate your residence is that you're leaving your past there. And you're willing not to have anything remain when you come back," Briese said.
People may be hesitant due to not having the information they now expect as well.
"Children, husband, wives evacuate separately. That's a big problem because they want to get their family back together," Briese said.
Developing better systems he believes requires clear messaging and the means to carry it. And Boulder County is far from the only place where the need is great.
"If we can't tell people that there's a problem and what to do about that problem including evacuations, then we're not doing our job," Briese said.
