►
From YouTube: Marshall Fire Briefing, Dec. 31, 2021
Description
Learn more at https://www.boco.org/MarshallFire #MarshallFire
A
23.
everybody
good
just
a
little
bit
more
sorry.
Okay,
doing
a
sound
check,
joe
pelly,
boulder
county
sheriff
mike
check
we're
good
to
go
all
right.
Thank
you.
My
name
is
joe
pelle
p-e-l-l-e,
I'm
the
boulder
county
sheriff
I'm
here
with
governor
paulus
and
representative
mcgoose,
senator
bennett
and
others
we're
going
to
give
you
a
briefing
and
answer
whatever
questions
you
might
have
this
morning
county.
Commissioner,
claire
levy
is
here
with
me,
director
of
public
safety,
mike
hilkey
from
the
state
overnight,
firefighters,
continued
mitigation
efforts,
good
news.
A
A
So
that's
awesome
news
and
actually,
I
think,
given
the
events
that
we
had
yesterday
pretty
miraculous,
we
were
fortunate
that
the
winds
dissipated
last
night
we're
expecting
snow
today.
That
snow
has
already
started
we're
hoping
to
see
three
to
six
inches
of
snow
and
some
good
moisture.
That's
certainly
going
to
help
our
efforts
this
morning,
governor
polis,
myself
and
others
flew
over
the
area
to
assess
the
damage.
A
We
know
there
are
approximately
2
000
homes
in
the
burnt
area.
We
certainly
did
not
lose
2
000
homes.
We
did
see
entire
subdivisions.
As
I
talked
about
last
night,
the
west
side
of
superior
old
town
superior
that
are
totally
gone,
that
accounts
for
easily
for
500
homes,
west
of
superior
out
towards
marshall.
El
dorado
springs
area.
A
We've
we
saw
dozens
of
burned
out
homes.
The
south
side
of
louisville
suffered
some
pretty
catastrophic
losses
as
well.
Dozens
of
homes,
damage
assessment
is
continuing.
Today
we
won't
have
final
numbers
until
late
tonight
or
tomorrow,
but
we
are
fully
expecting
this
to
be
500
or
more
homes
that
were
lost.
A
A
I
know
residents
want
to
get
back
to
their
homes
as
soon
as
possible
to
assess
damage
in
many
of
those
neighborhoods
that
are
currently
blocked
off.
It's
still
too
dangerous
to
return.
We
saw
still
active
fire
in
many
places
this
morning
and
we
stopped.
We
saw
downed
power
lines.
We
saw
a
lot
of
risk
that
is
we're
still
trying
to
mitigate
as
soon
as
residents
are
able
to
get
back
we're
going
to
let
them
back.
That's
our
goal.
We
don't
want
to
keep
people
out
of
their
neighborhoods
or
their
homes.
A
Last
night
there
was
a
boil
water
announced
for
the
town
of
louisville
city
of
louisville.
That
now
extends
to
the
town
of
superior.
The
issue
is
water,
pressure
was
lost
in
those
communities,
and
so
water
is
potentially
contaminated.
Even
domestic
water
and
it'll
need
to
be
boiled
in
in
those
areas
in
the
southern
part
of
the
county,
around
louisville,
sapir
and
in
superior.
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
I
also
spoke
to
the
president,
just
before
this
press
conference,
the
president
called
he
offered
his
support
for
the
people
of
colorado.
They
also
gave
verbal
authorization.
The
president
approved
the
expedited
major
disaster
declaration
and
that'll
be
finalized
and
papered
in
the
next
couple
hours.
What
that
means
is
it
allows
those
who
suffer
lost
small
businesses
and
homeowners.
B
B
B
B
B
So
unexpectedly
is
something
that
I
think
we're
all
just
struggling
to
believe
and
understand
so
different
than
fires
that
over
a
period
of
weeks
and
months
develop
this
played
out
with
105
mile
winds
over
the
course
of
half
a
day.
We
are
going
to
work
hard
with
families
and
small
businesses
to
rebuild
our
treasured
communities,
homes
and
sanctuaries.
For
folks,
the
short-term
impact
for
housing
needs.
B
So
far,
it
looks
like
the
two
major
hospitals
in
the
areas
were
spared,
looks
like
schools
were
spared
and
we
might
have
our
very
own
new
year's
miracle
on
our
hands.
If
it
holds
up
that
there
was
no
loss
of
life,
we
know
that
many
people
had
just
minutes
to
evacuate
and
if
that
was
successfully
pulled
off
by
all
the
affected
families,
that's
that's
really,
quite
quite
a
testimony
to
preparedness
and
emergency
response.
B
I
also
spoke
to
the
fema
administrator
this
morning
and
let
her
know
that
that,
with
this
expedited
major
disaster
declaration,
we're
going
to
need
all
the
help
we
can
get,
she
asked
other
ways
to
get
help.
We
talked
about
short-term
housing
needs.
We
talked
about
additional
needs
for
hospital
capacity
because
of
the
the
hospital
vista
that
will
be
while,
while
not
destroyed
out
of
commission
for
a
period
of
days
or
weeks,
it's
uncertain
when
that'll
be
back
in
a
100
capacity.
B
B
In
boulder
county,
a
profound
sense
of
gratitude
for
all
those
who
have
stayed
up
all
night
working
to
help
those
in
need,
I
know
there's
families
out
there
now
watching
this,
not
knowing
for
sure
whether
they
have
a
home
to
return
to
know
that
we
are
with
you
every
step
of
the
way
for
those
who've
lost
everything
they
had.
It's
not
going
to
be
easy.
B
It's
not
going
to
be
easy,
but
you
have
your
family.
You
have
your
health,
you
made
it
out.
These
are
physical
objects
that
you've
lost.
You
will
rebuild.
We
will
mobilize
everything
the
state
has
and
with
the
support
of
the
federal
government,
to
make
sure
you
have
the
resources.
You
need
to
rebuild
your
lives
here
in
colorado
with
that,
we'll
turn
it
over
to
senator
bennett.
C
Thank
you
governor,
thank
you
for
your
leadership
again
in
another
profoundly
difficult
moment
for
this
state
with
just
one
day
left
in
the
calendar
year.
I
I'm
going
to
be
brief.
I
want
to
start
by
thanking
the
sheriff
and
all
of
the
first
responders,
who
did
just
an
unbelievable
job
of
getting
people
out
of
here
and
of
making
sure
that
people
evacuate.
We
don't
know
what
the
final
numbers
are
going
to
be
here.
C
Unfortunately,
we
we've
had
our
share
of
floods
and
fires
and
natural
disasters,
and
what
what
I
can
say
for
at
least
for
the
last
decade
or
so,
is
that
in
every
single
case
we
have
built
back
stronger
than
we
were
before
the
disaster
happened,
and
I
am
absolutely
certain
that
that's
going
to
be
the
case
here.
Boulder
county
and
the
communities
that
have
been
affected
have
been
through
this.
This
may
have
this.
D
Good
morning,
everyone
first,
I
want
to
start
by
thanking
our
firefighters,
our
first
responders
police
officers.
Everyone
who's
been
working
so
diligently
throughout
the
day
yesterday
and
this
morning,
and
through
the
night
to
protect
lives
and
livelihoods.
We
are
incredibly
grateful
for
your
service
and
your
bravery,
and
that
starts
with
my
friend
and
colleague
sheriff
pelly.
D
Thank
you
to
governor
polis
for
his
leadership
to
mayor
staltzman
and
mayor
folsom,
both
of
whom
have
been
just
have
done
an
incredible
job
under
some
really
troubling
circumstances,
leading
their
respective
cities
of
louisville
and
superior,
not
knowing
whether
their
homes
were
safe.
During
this
terrible
tragedy,
yesterday
was
a
devastating
day
for
boulder
county
for
superior
and
for
louisville.
These
fires,
as
you
heard
the
governor
say,
are
unprecedented.
D
They
moved
through
neighborhoods
with
a
speed
and
a
magnitude
like
we
have
never
seen
before,
and
we
know
already
that
the
damage
will
be
costly
and
disastrous,
and
we
saw
that
for
ourselves
during
the
overflight
that
we
just
took
a
few
minutes
ago
with
the
governor
and
the
senator
as
the
sheriff
laid
out.
There
are
countless
families
in
our
community
today
who
are
learning
that
they
have
lost
their
homes
and
all
of
their
possessions
for
each
of
the
individuals
who
are
learning
of
this
loss
for
those
who
have
been
evacuated
from
their
homes.
D
Today,
our
prayers
are,
with
everyone
impacted
by
the
fires.
It's
going
to
be
a
long
road
to
recovery.
We
are
grateful
that
fema
gave
swift
authorization
yesterday
to
the
fmad
grants
that
were
necessary
to
help
battle
the
flames
and
grateful
to
president
biden
for
his
swift
approval
today
of
the
major
disaster
declaration,
which
will
be
critical
in
terms
of
bringing
federal
resources
here
to
boulder
county
and
to
the
many
homeowners
who
have
lost
so
much
for
folks
who
are
looking
for
housing
assistance,
small
business
assistance
and
so
forth.
F
F
We
need
community
members
to
continue
to
stay
out
of
the
area
until
the
evacuation
order
is
lifted
and
when
folks
do
get
back,
we
need
everyone's
help
in
conserving
water,
we're
still
under
a
boil
order,
and
so
we
need
everybody
to
follow
the
instructions
on
the
cdc
website
and
maintain
safety.
If
you
are
drinking
the
water
louisville
is
a
very
strong
community.
We
stand
with
superior,
we
share
a
high
school.
We
share
a
library
and
we're
going
to
get
through
this
together.
F
A
B
It
yeah
the
fire,
the
snow.
The
snow
has
started
the
the
absent
any
major
changes
in
the
weather,
there's
very
limited
potential
for
additional
negative
impact.
There
are
still
some
smoldering
flames,
there's
a
final
finalization,
but
but
at
this
point,
as
long
as
the
weather
holds
up
here,
there's
not
going
to
be
substantial
additional
damage
from
this
fire.
A
A
A
B
We
also
saw
in
the
aerial
reconnaissance
there
were
some
homes
that
were
partially
destroyed.
There
were
areas
where
there
were
roofs
that
were
burnt
out,
so,
in
addition
to
completely
destroyed
homes,
you
know,
with
with
burn
pits.
There
was
a
number
of
damaged
home
and
damaged
commercial
properties
as
well,
so
some
were
totaled.
Some
were
destroyed.
E
Sheriff
you
were
talking
about,
maybe
a
thousand
homes,
two
three
people,
a
home,
two
or
three
thousand
people-
were
getting
ready
for
snow
here.
How
are
we
going
to
house
all
of
these
people?
What
are
the
plans
realizing
it's
early.
What
can
you
share
with
those
that
are
wondering
where
they
can
go,
what
they
can
do.
B
Yeah
well,
there's
temporary
emergency
shelters
and
those
will,
of
course
serve
people
as
long
as
needed.
This
was
also
a
topic
of
my
conversation
with
the
fema
administrator
and
the
president
about
what
fema
can
do
to
help
support
some
of
the
medium-term
housing
needs
of
community
members
that
want
their
kids
to
be
able
to
return
to
their
school,
want
some
sense
of
normalcy
before
the
actual
physical
rebuilding
of
their
home
can
occur.
B
So
that's
going
to
be
a
priority
of
our
administration,
working
with
the
federal
government
to
provide
as
many
options
to
people
as
possible,
the
county
and
the
sheriff
did
a
great
job,
setting
up
the
emergency
shelters
and
there's
my
understanding.
There's
about
200
people
currently
at
the
emergency
shelters
again
many
have
fled
to
stay
with
friends
or,
or
you
know
in
other
areas,
and
and
that
will
likely
continue
as
long
as
it's
needed
to
serve
those
200
people,
usually
in
these
type
of
events
that
can
be
a
matter
of
weeks.
What's.
A
H
So
our
strategy
from
the
beginning
was
life
safety,
so,
with
the
winds,
the
way
they
were
and
the
fire
behavior
from
the
initial
start
of
the
fire,
the
fire
was
moving
basically
at
the
same
speed
of
the
wind
and
the
light
fuels.
So
our
priority
was
to
work
in
conjunction
with
our
partners
with
law
enforcement,
ems
and
fire
to
get
people
out
of
the
way
we
didn't
actively
fight
the
fire
for
the
first
few
hours.
It
was
really
about
life
safety,
as
we
started
to
get
a
little
bit
of
ahead
of
the
curb.
B
G
Ellie,
can
you
talk
a
little
bit
more
about
the
power
lines
that
were
involved
in
this?
Were
they
high
tension
lines
with
their
local
service
and
then
also
sheriff
you
and
governor?
I
wonder
if
you
can
share
a
little
what
you
saw
from
the
air
and
what
everything
looked
like
on
the
ground.
People
lived.
A
So
I
don't
have
details
my
my
view
of
this
entire
event
is
from
a
sort
of
a
30
000
foot
level.
I
don't
know
what
kind
of
power
lines
or
you
know
whether
they
were
transmission
lines
or
individual
lines
into
private
property.
I
don't
know
we
are
again
actively
investigating
today
trying
to
determine
the
origin
of
causing
fire
and
when
we
get
that
and
we
narrow
it
down,
we
will
make
that
public
was
the.
What
was
the
second.
A
No,
it's
like
any
other
fire
we've
seen
where
it's
a
mosaic
and
the
fire
runs
in
fingers
based
on
topography
and
wind
and
you'll,
see
where
the
fire
in
fuels
like
in
gulches,
where
there's
shrubs
and
and
taller
grasses,
where
it
entered
neighborhoods
and
took
out
like
an
entire
block
and
then
left
everything
around
it
standing
and
then,
on
the
other
hand,
like
on
the
west
side
of
superior
in
the
that
subdivision
and
the
old
part
of
town
there
there's
an
entire
community.
That's
completely
wiped
out.
A
A
I
know
they're
working
as
hard
as
they
can
as
fast
as
they
can
to
restore
power.
So
a
major
issue
with
late
season,
fires
for
us
and
we've
experienced
this
in
the
past
is
we
have
warm
temperatures.
We
have
wind,
we
have
a
big
fire,
we
lose
power
and
then
the
next
day
we
freeze
over
and
so
all
those
homes
we
danger
of
broken
pipes
and
running
water,
and
that-
and
so
I
know,
restoration
of
power
is
a
major
priority.
H
E
A
No,
we
don't
have
any.
We
don't
have
family
members
calling
in
you
know
telling
us
they
can't
find
rose.
None
of
that.
The
one
lady
that
was
reported
last
night
was
found
up.
Fine,
it's
unbelievable!
When
you
look
at
the
devastation
that
we
don't
have
a
list
of
100
missing
persons,
but
we
don't
and
so
again
I'm
hoping
that's
a
miracle
because
it
would
be
given
the
circumstances,
any
other
utility
issues,
gas
lines.
Anything
else
like
that
to
be
aware
of
or
to
get.
H
H
We're
working
closely
with
excel
and
all
the
different
power
providers
in
the
area
to
do
quick
assessments
of
where
we
can
mike
was
alluded
to
previously.
One
of
our
big
concerns
and
we've
got
a
group
specifically
working
on
how
we're
going
to
restore
power
where
it's
safe,
to
make
sure
that
the
power
lines
are
inspected
before
we
re-energize
and
that
the
gas
lines
are
all
intact
before
we
do
that,
so
we
are
actively
working
on
that
as
far
as
major
transmission
lines
or
gas
infrastructure
that's
been
damaged.
E
A
A
Please
keep
in
mind
that
only
a
portion
of
the
homes
in
that
burn
area
are
affected
and
there
are
a
lot
of
unaffected
homes
there.
There
will
be
the
ability,
I
think,
soon
for
flight
flights.
You
know
that
kind
of
thing
to
to
give
more
information
to
the
public,
but
right
now
I
can't
provide
information
on
specific
addresses.
H
For
the
hand
that
we
were
dealt,
I
don't
think
that
we
could
have
done
a
better
job.
The
initial
response
from
the
local
fire
departments,
then
stepping
up
through
the
county
response
the
delegation
of
the
sheriff
and
then
the
cooperation
through
the
governor's
office
through
the
state,
dhsem
and
dfpc,
were
both
fantastic
and
I
think
the
collaborative
effort
really
did
show
the
preparedness
level
and
the
amount
of
preparations
that
we've
done
here
in
boulder
and
statewide
as
well.
B
Yeah,
there's
no
no
technology
or
equipment.
That's
available
to
have
halted
this
kind
of
fire
in
its
tracks,
with
105
mile
winds
and
and
the
dry
conditions
and
the
fuel
that
was
available,
but
the
the
firefighters,
the
sheriff
the
state
assistants.
They
did
everything
they
could.
As
you
said,
it's
going
to
be
with
the
hand
that
they
would
know.
E
B
You
know
I
got.
I
of
course
have
many
friends
in
the
affected
areas.
I
just
want
to
read
a
text
from
one
that
I
I
got
a
friend
who
lost
their
their
home
or
doesn't
know
if
they
lost
their
home.
She
said
I'm
in
the
springs
of
my
parents.
My
sons
got
out
okay,
we
may
not
have
homes
tomorrow,
but
we
have
each
other
I'll,
miss
the
treasures
we've
collected
for
the
last
30
plus
years
and
while
not
replaceable,
that's
not
people
and
remember.
We
will
have
homes,
a
house
is
made
of
sticks
and
stones.
B
A
home
is
made
of
love
alone.
With
her
attitude,
the
people
of
colorado
are
resilient.
The
people
of
colorado
are
strong;
they
they
will
build
back.
This
has
been
a
tough
few
years,
all
around
the
three
largest
wildfires
in
the
history
of
our
state,
but
to
put
things
in
perspective,
those
three
largest
wildfires
combined,
while
over
six
hundred
thousand
acres,
each
one
of
them
over
two
hundred
thousand
acres,
still
destroyed
less
homes
and
less
businesses
than
this
fire
of
6
000
acres,
because
this
was
fundamentally
an
urban
and
suburban
fire.
B
The
people
of
colorado
will
build
back
if
we're
granted
this
new
year's
miracle
of
no
loss
of
life.
It
truly
is
nothing
short
of
miraculous
and
we
have
one
another
most.
If
not
all
people
got
out
and
are
safe
and
we,
as
their
friends
and
neighbors
and
fellow
coloradans,
are
going
to
do
everything
we
can
to
help
them
rebuild
their
lives
still.
A
There
are
still
areas
burning
inside
the
fire
zone,
around
homes
and
shrubbery,
and
that
kind
of
thing,
but
we're
not
expecting
or
we're
not
expecting
to
see
any
growth
in
the
fire
today.
I
think
we're
pretty
well
contained,
except
for
what's
happening
inside
the
fire
zone,
would
that
be
accurate,
yeah.
B
They're
they're
burning
through
the
very
limited
fuel
that
they
have
and
are
likely
to
extinguish
themselves,
and,
of
course,
we
also
now
have
snow
and
precipitation
in
the
area.
Thank
you
to
those
across
colorado
and
those
across
the
world
who
have
joined
with
the
people
of
colorado
and
in
helping
us
get
through
this
difficult
time.
We
thank
you
for
your
love,
your
prayers
and
your
affection,
and
we
look
forward
to
your
help
in
helping
our
affected
families
and
our
community
build
back
stronger.
Thank
you.
Thank
you.
Everyone.