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CBS News
a day ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Colorado's newest firefighting helicopter shelved for several weeks during wildfire season
In a case of bad timing, a helicopter purchased by the state for the specific purpose of fighting wildfires has been taken out of service in the middle of the summer fire season. The "state of the art" Firehawk is undergoing required regular maintenance, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. An agency spokesperson told CBS Colorado the craft was taken out of service July 13 for thorough, mandated inspections. Several wildfires were ignited by lightning strikes on Colorado Western Slope the same day the Firehawk was taken out of service. Four of the larger fires - the South Rim, Turner Gulch, Sowbelly and Deer Creek incidents - are still burning. "We currently have 5 mechanics working on to get it back up and operational ASAP," CDFPC's Tracy LeClair stated. The normal duration of such inspections is several weeks, LeClair added. "We are hoping for sooner than that," LeClair stated. "They understand the urgency of getting us back up as soon as possible, without compromising safety." The Firehawk is a version of the military's UH-70 Black Hawk built by Sikorsky. The Si70i's wildfire conversion features a 1,000-gallon belly tank, extended landing gear, and a retractable snorkel that can refill the tank in less than a minute. Colorado ordered the aircraft following the 2020 wildfire season, one of the state's worst on record. The fires that year included the Cameron Peak, Pine Gulch, Grizzly Creek, Williams Ford, Middle Fork, East Troublesome and Calwood blazes. Three of those - Cameron Peak, Pine Gulch and East Troublesome - were the largest wildfires (in acreage) in state history. Colorado's legislature approved almost $31 million in 2021 for the purchase of the Firehawk and the leasing of other helicopters until its arrival. State officials celebrated the purchase in a press conference. "Not only will the Firehawk be an additional resource for aggressive and early initial attack," said Mike Morgan, Director of Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, at that press conference, "but it can also be used on longer duration wildfires." The state's Firehawk recently reached 480 hours of flight time, necessitating the scheduled maintenance, CDFPC's Tracy LeClair explained. "The military has the same scheduled maintenance and is down the same amount of time to perform these Safety Inspections as required by the manufacturer," LeClair stated. "The critical nature of performing quality maintenance on an aircraft is not like an ordinary vehicle. It cannot be postponed, and one mistake, malfunction, or component failure can be catastrophic and fatal, unlike rolling to the edge of a road and waiting for a tow truck when your car breaks down." The maintenance includes some disassembly of the Firehawk to inspect the airframe, and the flight control systems and components running throughout it. Both engines will be removed during the process. LeClair confirmed a second Firehawk is on order. "We were planning to perform this inspection in the winter months, but we had no choice on this 1st helicopter," she said. "Once we have our second helicopter, we can stagger the maintenance to ensure one aircraft is available at all times. We don't have a solid delivery date for the 2nd one yet, but it is tentatively scheduled for delivery and acceptance late summer/early fall."
CBS News
5 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Public radio stations in Colorado prepare to lose millions of dollars in federal funding
Some radio stations in Colorado might go under after the U.S. Senate passed a bill that cuts more than $1 billion in funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The nonprofit funds NPR, PBS and 1,500 radio and television stations across the country. Colorado Public Radio says it would lose $1.4 million -- about 5% of its funding. It says there are a dozen small public radio stations in mountain and rural communities that could go off the air due to the cuts. Those stations not only provide local news and programming, but emergency alerts in cases of major storms, flooding and wildfires. "If you're a hiker, if you're an outdoorsman, if you're a hunter, if you're a skier, or if you just live in a rural community and you rely on this infrastructure to keep yourself safe, all of this is at risk now," said Colorado Democrat Jason Crow, who opposed the bill. Ashley Krest, the general Manager at KVNF in Paonia, says her station has 10,000 listeners across 10,000 square miles on the Western Slope. She says some of them live in areas where there is no internet service. The radio station, she says, is a lifeline in emergencies like the South Rim Fire "So for them to be able to know that our at 90.9 or 89.1 is one that is going to deliver those special beeps that always come out and say, 'OK, we're now going to be evacuating off the south rim of the Black Canyon. These are the specific roads, and those are the folks that need to be paying attention and act now. Pack you go bag,'" Krest said. "I think that there's certain amount of trust that we've garnered from our listeners. We've been around for 46 years." Krest says KVNF receives 20% of its funding from the CPB. Gerald Rodriguez, general manager of KRZA in Alamosa, says his station receives nearly half of its funding from the organization. KRZA covers the entire San Luis Valley and Northern New Mexico. Rodriguez says the station not only provides emergency alerts for its own listeners but for two other radio stations. Rodriguez says he maintains the transmitter -- located on San Antonio Mountain -- himself to save money. "The terrain up there is pretty rough, especially in the winter time," Rodriguez said. "You can't get up there with an SUV, a snowmobile, anything. So I've had to literally hike up there three, four hours with a backpack in the cold snow in snowshoes to get up to the mountain and then fix our transmitter." Rodriguez and Krest say they will look for grants and fundraise, but cuts are likely. In addition to public broadcasting, the bill also cuts about $8 billion in foreign aid. All of Colorado's Republican members of U.S. Congress voted for the measure. "If NPR and PBS are as popular and important as they claim they are, they'll be able to run just fine without being subsidized by the federal government," Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert said in a statement shared with CBS Colorado. "This package is a good first step towards balancing our budget and cutting the wasteful spending from USAID that President Trump and I victoriously campaigned on eliminating." The bill passed the House and Senate, but the Senate made changes to it, including preserving funding for tribal radio stations, so the House will need to repass it.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Drought gets much worse in Aspen and Glenwood Springs as dry conditions persist across western half of Colorado
Colorado's drought situation is taking a turn for the worse, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Extreme, severe, and moderate drought levels have all increased. Severe drought conditions rose by about 2%, but it's the nearly 8% spike in extreme drought that's most concerning. The worst of these worsening conditions are now centered in Pitkin and Eagle counties, where the drought status intensified from severe to extreme in just the past week. Currently, more than half of Colorado is experiencing some level of drought, highlighting the ongoing impact of a dry summer season across much of the western half of the state. The Western Slope saw particularly dry weather this past week, further deepening existing drought concerns in the region. However, there was a glimmer of improvement on the Eastern Plains — with Yuma and Kit Carson counties seeing enough moisture to ease conditions slightly, shifting from moderate drought to abnormally dry.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
High winds, low rain chances expected near Turner Gulch as fire grows nearly 14K acres
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) – The Turner Gulch wildfire continues to wreak havoc on the Western Slope, as Wednesday's update had the blaze near 14,000 acres. This isn't the only fire near Gateway, as nearby Wright Draw was mapped at 448 acres. Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1 (RM CIMT 1) stated that the blazes are burning on each side of Unaweep Canyon. Firefighters have been working to protect values near the fire, but the continued hot and dry weather remains a challenge. 'There will be a gradual uptick in relative humidity as the week progresses, but warmer and drier air is expected to remain in place,' RM CIMT 1 stated. Crews have been aided by heavy air support dropping water and retardant to slow down the fire. Going into Wednesday, firefighters will continue to assess the Wright Draw fire on Piñon Mesa and look at options for building containment lines to protect values on the mesa, according to RM CIMT 1. However, because of the steep area where the fire is located, crews will look at lower terrain where they could safely manage the fire perimeter. For the Turner Gulch blaze, line construction is completed along the west and northwest flank along Highway 141, according to RM CIMT 1. Crews will mop up and see if there is any remaining heat that could threaten the line. Toward the east, structure assessments and preparation will continue as firefighters expect additional fire spread. Crews along the south perimeter of the wildfire are determining options for containment. Closures and evacuations have continued for anyone who lives near Gateway on Highway 141, as even part of the Uncompahgre Plateau closed due to the blaze. A community meeting regarding this blaze, as well as the Wright Draw fire, will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, at the Gateway Community Center, 42700 Highway 141. A livestream of the meeting can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
More wildfires rampaging across Western Slope
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) – Wildfires continue to plague the Western Slope as crews are tackling several blazes on CO Highway 141 near Gateway. Two of the fires, Wright Draw and Turner Gulch, are mapped at 33.5 and 83 acres, respectively, as of Friday. The Upper Colorado Interagency Fire Management Unit, which has responded to around 10 wildfires on Thursday, reported lightning is responsible for the blazes. UCRIFM said several resources have been ordered and are en route or are currently on the scene, including engines and aircraft. Other fires in Western Colorado include two on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The south rim fire has been mapped at over 1,600 acres. Due to the smoke from the blaze, air quality alerts are in place in Montrose. The county said residents should close their doors and windows and avoid prolonged exposure. Meanwhile, the Deer Creek Fire has spread to 4,000 acres near the Utah-Colorado border. The blaze is about 11 miles west of Paradox. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
