University of Colorado at Boulder emergency and communications personnel will join their counterparts from the city of Boulder, Boulder County, the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter, and more than a dozen agencies in a flash flood exercise involving Boulder Creek and South Boulder Creek on Thursday, April 16.
As part of the all-day exercise, CU-Boulder will host emergency shelters at the Coors Events/Conference Center on Regent Drive and at the Bear Creek Apartment Complex Recreation Center at 3275 Apache Road. The Bear Creek shelter will be managed by the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter and the Coors Events/Conference Center will be staffed by CU personnel.
"This is a major exercise with important training implications for more than a dozen agencies," said Deborah Imel Nelson, emergency manager for CU-Boulder's Environmental Health and Safety department. "In the case of a major flash flood, CU-Boulder personnel would play a vital role as first responders, rescuers and communicators, and selected CU facilities would be designated as evacuation shelters. We are looking forward to this exercise as a key test of our training, coordination and response."
City and county first responders will practice rescue and casualty recovery operations in Boulder Creek from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. near Eben G. Fine Park at 11th Street and Arapahoe Avenue and storm drain search and rescue operations will be conducted at Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other training will coincide with these exercises. For a complete list of exercises, visit the city of Boulder Web site at or the Boulder County Web site at .
At CU, the flood exercise will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Coors Events/Conference Center and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bear Creek Apartments Recreation Center. Volunteers are still needed to play evacuees and shelter clients. Those interested should contact Nelson at 303-492-5162, or Deborah.Nelson@Colorado.edu.