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Save Lives. Use the Science.
Colorado Evacuation Modeling State Law
We have been working for years to get this law passed. The science of evacuation modeling has existed since the 1970s. Waldo, Paradise, Marshall & Lahaina have proven we need to identify and fix our choke points and infrastructure, in advance, of the next dire fire. We need to arm the public, residents and visitors with their times and maps. Most importantly, we need to implement evacuation modeling as part of responsible growth and avoid trapping people and pets.
Ask Our State Leaders to Mandate Evacuation Modeling, Reporting of Times/Maps to the Public & Implement Evacuation Modeling Standards for Development to Save Lives & Grow Responsibly.
What can you do?
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Send the email below by copying/pasting content and to/cc fields. Takes seconds to copy/paste and send. Or create you own. Note: it's important to copy the media. They want and need to hear from us. Emails are like votes to politicians.
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Sign the petition and leave a comment on it. For every 100 who sign, another email goes to our Governor and State legislators to ask them to protect lives.
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Donate to the COS Neighborhood Defense Fund. Developers spent upwards of $2 million buying our City Council, and it's working. They pass everything, and Councilmember Risley and Councilmember Leinweber are even brazen enough to complaing we are not approving these death traps and neighborhood destroyers fast enough. The courts are our only hope until we elect leaders that represent the public safety and interests of the people first.
Sample Email below, but we encourage you to write your own. Please use the To/CC fields to send your email. Note: for people who use Outlook, we have added another To/CC box below that includes the semi-colon separators. Gmail and most email services use the comma.
To: governorpolis@state.co.us, judy.amabile.house@coleg.gov, ryan.armagost.house@coleg.gov, jennifer.bacon.house@coleg.gov, mark.baisley@senate.co.com, shannon.bird.house@coleg.gov, rod.bockenfeld.house@coleg.gov, andrew.boesenecker.house@coleg.gov, scott.bottoms.house@coleg.gov, mary.bradfield.house@coleg.gov, brandi.bradley.house@coleg.gov, jeff.bridges.senate@coleg.gov, kyle.brown.house@coleg.gov, janet.buckner.senate@coleg.gov, marc.catlin.house@coleg.gov, james.coleman.senate@coleg.gov, lisa.cutter.senate@coleg.gov, jessie.danielson.senate@coleg.gov, lindsey.daugherty.house@coleg.gov, ken.degraaf.house@coleg.gov, chris.kennedy.house@coleg.gov, Ruby.Dickson.house@coleg.gov, monica.duran.house@coleg.gov, regina.english.house@coleg.gov, elisabeth.epps.house@coleg.gov, gabe.evans.house@coleg.gov, tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov, stephen.fenberg.senate@coleg.gov, rhonda.fields.senate@coleg.gov, lisa.frizell.house@coleg.gov, meg.froelich.house@coleg.gov, lorena.garcia.house@coleg.gov, bob.gardner.senate@coleg.gov, joann.ginal.senate@coleg.gov, julie.gonzales.senate@coleg.gov, serena.gonzales-gutierrez.house@coleg.gov, eliza.hamrick.house@coleg.gov, chris.hansen.senate@coleg.gov, anthony.hartsook.house@coleg.gov, leslie.herod.house@coleg.gov, nick.hinrichsen.senate@coleg.gov, richard.holtorf.house@coleg.gov, sonya.jaquez.lewis.senate@coleg.gov, Iman.Jodeh.house@coleg.gov, junie.joseph.house@coleg.gov, cathy.kipp.house@coleg.gov, barbara.kirkmeyer.senate@coleg.gov, chris.kolker.senate@coleg.gov, sheila.lieder.house@coleg.gov, mandy.lindsay.house@coleg.gov, william.lindstedt.house@coleg.gov, larry.liston.senate@coleg.gov, stephanie.luck.house@coleg.gov, meghan.lukens.house@coleg.gov, paul.lundeen.senate@coleg.gov, mike.lynch.house@coleg.gov, javier.mabrey.house@coleg.gov, janice.marchman.senate@coleg.gov, bob.marshall.house@coleg.gov, matthew.martinez.house@coleg.gov, tisha.mauro.house@coleg.gov, Dominick.Moreno.senate@coleg.gov, Julie.Mccluskie.house@coleg.gov, karen.mccormick.house@coleg.gov, barbara.mclachlan.house@coleg.gov, dafna.michaelson.jenet.senate@coleg.gov, kyle.mullica.senate@coleg.gov, David.Ortiz.house@coleg.gov, jennifer.parenti.house@coleg.gov, byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov, rod.pelton.senate@coleg.gov, kevin.priola.senate@coleg.gov, rose.pugliese.house@coleg.gov, janicerichsd7@gmail.com, Naquetta.Ricks.house@coleg.gov, dylan.roberts.senate@coleg.gov, robert.rodriguez.senate@coleg.gov, said.sharbini.house@coleg.gov, cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov, emily.sirota.house@coleg.gov, SenatorSmallwood@gmail.com, marc.snyder.house@coleg.gov, matthew.soper.house@coleg.gov, tammy.story.house@coleg.gov, tom.sullivan.senate@coleg.gov, rick.taggart.house@coleg.gov, brianna.titone.house@coleg.gov, alex.valdez.house@coleg.gov, kevin.vanwinkle.senate@coleg.gov, elizabeth.velasco.house@coleg.gov, stephanie.vigil.house@coleg.gov, ron.weinberg.house@coleg.gov, mike.weissman.house@coleg.gov, perry.will.senate@coleg.gov, jenny.willford.house@coleg.gov, don.wilson.house@coleg.gov, faith.winter.senate@coleg.gov, ty.winter.house@coleg.gov, steven.woodrow.house@coleg.gov, mary.young.house@coleg.gov, senatorrachelz@gmail.com
CC: mike.morgan@state.co.us, kevin.klein@state.co.us, westsidewatchcos@gmail.com, news@cpr.org, news@kktv.com, news@koaa.com, news@fox21news.com, news@krcc.org, news.tips@abc.com, newsroom@coloradosun.com, newsroom@denverpost.com, breeanna.jent@gazette.com, oliviaprentzel@coloradosun.com, tips@kdvr.com, tips@nbcuni.com, tips@cnn.com, tips@thefp.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, tips@reuters.com, ASack@kxrm.com, andy.koen@koaa.com, newstips@9news.com, newstips@denver7.com, kyle.clark@9news.com, KCNCNews@cbs.com
Subject: Mandated State Evacuation Modeling is a Moral Duty of Colorado Leadership
Dear Governor Polis, Representatives & Senators,
As dire fires like Waldo, Black Forest, Paradise, Marshall and Lahaina are now far too frequent and common, it is imperative that we pass a state law to use the science of evacuation modeling to:
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Identify and mitigate chokepoints in advance of the chaos.
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Provide residents and visitors with their times and maps to evacuate a location.
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Provide residents and visitors evacuation maps that also identify refuge areas.
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Implement evacuation modeling and standards as part of the development process so we avoid worsening evacuation times and trapping people and pets.
RtePM and FLEET (Fast Local Emergency Evacuation Times) is a FREE software program developed at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, funded by DHS and used by DHS, FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, the Nuclear Regulatory Council, MIT and many cities across the United States. This modeling software can identify times, choke points and evacuation flow hazards in blue sky AND obstacles created, for example, by cars exploding on roadways blocking those egresses. This software can also help identify the impact developments have in specific locations so the infrastructure can be addressed BEFORE the chaos.
Popular programs that claim to address evacuation concerns by creating zones are terrific tools in normal weather conditions, but in these dire fires, the communications always fail leaving people with no tools to navigate in dark skies with billions of embers flying at 60-100 mph.
The Developers are the ones pushing back against this science just like they did the GeoHazard Laws which are ubiquitous across the nation today. How many developments get stopped with those laws in place? Close to zero. What those laws have done is made building safer, reducing lawsuits and saving lives. Many of the fixes will be easy. For example, in the Paradise fire, they learned there was a light 9 miles outside of the town in Chico that back up traffic into Paradise; had they done evacuation modeling in advance, they would have easily addressed that choke point by making sure the light was green or having an officer there to wave traffic through the light. Just think how many lives this simple solution could have saved.
3 hours beats 5-8 hours all day long. Knowledge is power. There is no worse death than humans and animals burning to death in their cars, in their homes, or trying to flee on foot - and there's no bigger disgrace to willfully ignoring the science of evacuation modeling that can mean 10 versus hundreds or thousands, now, of lives lost.
Please pass state legislation mandating evacuation modeling to protect human life and our furry friends.
With deep concern and respect,
[Your name]
[Your city or county], Colorado
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