The Lake Christine Fire tested how prepared Eagle County is for natural disasters, and now the county is updating its hazard mitigation plan.
Counties need to update these plans every five years to be eligible for funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The plan lays out the risks the community faces for a variety of natural disasters, and how to both mitigate those dangers and prepare for them.
The first stage of the process is to collect input from the community. There’s a survey open now, and the county is applying lessons learned in the Lake Christine Fire to this public effort.
Dana Erpelding is the county's deputy director of public health. She said translating emergency messages into Spanish was critical during the wildfire, and so the survey is being translated into Spanish, too.
It will be open through mid-October.
