The crisis forced the mandatory evacuation of El Paso County Public Health’s (EPCPH) offices from June 26 to June 29. Many EPCPH employees also were evacuated from their homes, but continued to work as part of the incident response and recovery phase. As part of El Paso County Public Health’s Continuity of Operations Plan, a temporary office was established during the evacuation, opening to take calls from the public concerning fire and non-fire related information. Smoke from the wildfire prompted concerns from the community about air quality, and as evacuations lifted, residents faced challenges related to the safe cleanup of smoke, ash, debris, potentially spoiled food and indoor and outdoor air quality.
During the summer of 2012, the Waldo Canyon Wildfire hit El Paso County, CO and the City of Colorado Springs, CO with a devastating fury. From June 23 to July 10, 2012 the wildfire forced the evacuation of approximately 32,000 residents across several jurisdictions, destroyed 347 homes in Colorado Springs, killed two residents, produced a choking cloud of smoke and burned 18,247 acres.
Environmental Health was greatly involved, during the wildfire and with the recovery, in the following areas:
- Retail food and child care sanitation field response to 80 evacuated retail food establishments and 21 evacuated childcare centers
- Mass sheltering issues
- Continuity Of Operations (COOP)
- Air quality
- Ash/debris cleanup and hauling
This presentation will focus on environmental health's response, and lessons learned during the 2012 Waldo Canyon Wildfire.
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