On Wednesday March 13th R1D5 ARES was activated by the Douglas County Office of Emergency Management (DC OEM) ahead of the anticipated snowstorm that was forecasted to bring significant snow to the Front Range. NWS forecasts predicted as much as two feet of snow in South Douglas County, from Castle Rock to Monument Hill.
Douglas OEM was concerned by the high probability of Highway I25 being closed during the storm, which would result in stranded motorists and the need for shelters. Douglas OEM opened their EOC (Emergency Operations Center) starting at 0700 on Thursday morning and asked R1D5 ARES to provide ARES operators in the EOC to support emergency support function, ESF-2. Additionally, they requested two ARES operators at a shelter located at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock.
The EOC and Shelter were planned to operate through the night until Friday morning at 0700, when the storm situation would be evaluated, and response plans adjusted. R1D5 operators supported multiple shifts all day Thursday, and through the night until the shelter at the Fairgrounds was shut down Friday morning. Fulfilling our role as requested by the Douglas County Office of Emergency management, R1D5 ARES provided 10 operators who worked multiple shifts and volunteered more than 100 man-hours for the March snowstorm event.
The incident MVP’s were Eric K0EWF and Chris K0BOM who worked one shift in the morning and then came back to Kirk Hall to work the night shift for a total of 18hrs each not including their travel time back and forth in bad weather conditions. Thanks to all who stepped up to work at the shelter and EOC.
