Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District Board of Directors Meeting
The Board of Directors of the Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District announces that the next monthly Board meeting will occur on Tuesday, October 8, 2013, at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Old Chicago Restaurant, 1805 Industrial Circle, Longmont, CO, Boulder County, Colorado. (This location change is due to the 9/12/2013 flood which washed out parts of Hwy 36 isolating Pinewood Springs.)
AGENDA:
Determination of Quorum
Agenda additions and deletions
Approval of Minutes September 10, 2013
Treasurer’s Report
Chief’s Report
Fire Station/Community Center
Old Business:
Web Site
Thank You Letters
New Business:
Christmas Gathering
2014 Budget
They scared me too. The day after the flood I went to my first “Firehouse Meeting”. I signed the sheet to indicate if we needed any medicine. I made the mistake of asking them about when the meds would come and when they asked what meds we needed I told them that both my husband and I are diabetic and my husband takes heart meds. They told me to go home and pack because BOTH of us had to leave immediately. They said if our insulin got warm WE WOULD DIE. They didn’t think to ask if we had a generator before they made that stupid comment. I told them I would not leave and my husband was not home and Good Luck getting him to leave anyway. They told me – “He won’t have a choice”. I went home and packed bags for both my husband and I because I really thought they could come and drag us out of the house. I closed the drapes because the smaller black helicopters were flying low and I thought they would land and force me to leave. Seriously – black helicopters? I watch too many movies. BTW, my husband is STILL in Pinewood! On the 13th he drove out on the Estes Park Estates dirt road, went to Longmont and bought propane, gas for the generator and some food. Every day the news from the firehouse got worse. First it was 2 weeks to 2 months – then it was December or Spring, then we wouldn’t have any water, the power was going to take months to restore. When there was a power blip and we had to wait a bit for the power to come on one of my neighbors heard someone (from the firehouse) ask an REA member if they could shut the power back off. If they would have just left everyone alone we would be fine – and we were and are still fine. I also noticed they did not bring the meds people needed. They brought some but not a lot – not what some people asked for/needed. That’s why we found a way to get to Estes Park. People worked together, shared food, built a foot path, shopped for each other. We could now get gas, food,, meds, etc. Did you notice that they stopped putting water (which they had cases and cases of) out for people attending their meetings? Did you also notice that they had a huge pile of MRE’s that they never said anything about. When I asked about them I was told “We don’t know what we’re going to do with them yet”. We didn’t need any food but I met some neighbors who had three kids and didn’t have a way to cook. I gave them some food that didn’t need to be cooked but MRE’s would have been perfect for them. They had three little girls for crying out loud! My husband wants to file some sort of complaint against the people who tried to “FORCE” residents out. At the very least the information on how this whole thing was handled should be brought to light. I will be able to get e-mail messages tomorrow but then not until Oct 21st. Please keep in touch. I think we need to meet with other like minded people who want to bring this crap out into the open. People need to know that they did not bring needed meds, water or food to anyone in Pinewood – at least not that I know of. There were reports of supplies “being dropped” into Pinewood. I wish I was still there but I need to bring home a paycheck. I would love to be with my husband and my neighbors. We’ll do whatever we can. Good luck to you – I hope to meet you soon. I know this is rambling and back and forth in time periods but I an FIRED UP about this whole thing.
Linda
Linda
I can’t just stand by and watch a dog pile on the fine folks who volunteer their time to serve on our fire department. They did a great job with a terrible situation. A situation that was constantly changing and one where there were very few alternatives. In hind sight it is easy to lob criticism and I really hope that does not happen on a wide scale.
Remember that a lot of people who were at the fire station were state and federal folks who came in to help. The medical coordinator we talked to was not a local and said no medicines would be brought in and those people needing them would have to be airlifted out. Yes, this could have scared us but we knew we could trust ourselves to find a solution for what was needed so we chose to not let them influence us. We know that the people trying to scare us were not our local guys but the feds and our local guys were put in the bad position of being the messenger. Seeing how some people are trying to blame them for something makes me sad – they don’t deserve wrath or criticism from anybody.
I would suggest that those who have complaints about how they think the fire department handled anything sign up as volunteers with the department versus lobbing criticism from the outside.
Thank you Pinewood Fire Department for your tireless leadership and help during our recent crisis. We are lucky to have you.
Amen. We’re just PWS weekenders and weren’t there at the time, thank goodness. I don’t know what really happened or what the reality was and is for you folks, but our hearts go out to you who call PWS your home. We’re eager to help. Meanwhile, as for complaints and criticisms go, I’m reminded of Lee Iacocca’s quote: “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” Thanks, too, for this excellent website.
As representative for the Pinewood Springs FPD I’d just like to forward what great respect and admiration we all have for our community and residents. The same message was passed along from our recent partners from outside the community who worked along side us. We were bolstered by your kind comments and your strong support during a very difficult and trying time, and now during the ongoing efforts to keep our community and residents safe. It is unfortunate how insidious misrepresentation of misunderstood information can be, and I am grateful that the vast majority of our community is of reasonable bent and able to process these events logically and positively. Thank you.
Chief, as always you respond with class, integrity and honesty. I was so very honored to be a part of trying to help the community during the floods and afterward. I was privy to the conversations, the strategies and sometimes the frustration the Fire Department experienced in always trying to do the right things for Pinewood Springs and its residents. You constantly struggled to make the best decisions with the available information you had, and that could change on a moments notice. But your commitment to honest, thoughtful and timely dissemination of information NEVER faltered. Not everyone liked what you had to say; YOU didn’t like everything you had to say, but you said those things because you believed, along with the rest of the Fire Department that the people of Pinewood Springs had a right to know everything you did.
Thank-you and the department for all you have done and continue to do. Thanks to the members who stayed and are still helping. Thanks to all who helped protect and serve the people of Pinewood Springs.
Asst. Chief Lucas,
I would like to express my thankfulness and appreciation to you, your firefighters and all those who volunteered to help our community during the flooding and evacuations. You were always honest- relaying the facts as you knew them to be regardless of how unpopular and ever changing they might have been. Reasonable members of the community know that you only had our safety and wellbeing in mind at all times. Perhaps those who are finding fault would feel differently if they had been “in the trenches” with you and those who were actually helping others. There remains so much to do for many in Pinewood and elsewhere. Hopefully those who are filled with unjustified indignation will soon find useful, selfless occupation instead of exaggerating and fabricating facts about past events. Certainly the majority know that PSFD works for US, as it always has in spite of how thankless a job it must be at times.
Chief – you, the entire department and Gabi were simply amazing during all this. You all led calmly and with great respect for everyone through the most challenging time. I can not imagine what the situation would have been with out you. I can not thank you enough.
I want to say a big THANK YOU to Laura for creating and maintaining this website. With all the rumors and hearsay than happens at a time like this I am confident that I can come to this site for well researched information. Again thank you!
The volunteers of the Pinewood Fire Department, and surrounding local help, were beyond great in a situation of major league chaos and pressure. High up Fed/State levels have different agendas. One driver at the Fed/State level has to be resource allocation because the water is moving down the hill and will impact other folks later so they set a timetable of Airlift support. And you all got to know that they love giving the Air-lifted numbers to the media. This Fed/State level has the power and the money to push their agendas.
There was no gasoline or other items coming in so it was clear to many what they wanted to do in their pursuit of crowd control and safety. That’s how they think and they think they are doing the right thing.
I will bet most folks will be prepared a bit more and learn from this experience…I know my Family will. I mean really, Hwy 36 in both directions blown up? What kind of wacko Vegas odds are those?
Dear Warren, THE ATTITUDE IS GRATITUDE ! Kim Bologna
I also want to thank Chief Lucas and the PWS fire dept for the open, honest discourse that occurred during the flood, and since then. I don’t feel in the least that I was scared out of my house, but the realities at that time were a little scary, so I chose to go. Had I been better prepared (now happening and ongoing), maybe I would have stayed. Considering that the bulk (if not all) of the fire fighters are volunteers, I find the original comment on this page reprehensible. Maybe if someone with that much sudden interest about the ins and outs could join the dept and turn that negativity into creative benefit for all.