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Pitkin County prepared for disasters with highly-trained teams

pitkincounty.com

The Pitkin County Commissioners gave initial support last week for an updated Emergency Operations Plan. It details how the county is more ready than ever before to handle large-scale disasters. 

The last update was in 2012. Since then, the county has developed a Type Four Incident Management Team and fifteen support teams. These groups are made up of more than 200 highly-trained public safety officers and civilians. They would jump into action in a major disaster, like a wildfire, flooding or multiple bombs. Valerie MacDonald is the Pitkin County Emergency Manager.

"We spend a lot of time in the county preparing for disasters we hope never happen. The reason we do this is because all studies show that having the structure in place and doing the training we do, will improve our response."

She says Pitkin is the only jurisdiction in the 10-county northwest Colorado region with a Type Four team. That team has already been activated to manage special events, like the Winter X Games.