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A week after the 6,000 acre Marshall fire destroyed homes and businesses in Louisville and Superior, Mountain View Fire Protection District firefighters are returning to more normal operations in a coverage area that includes suburban homes, farms, foothills and grassland.
“We were there from the beginning of the fire, working with other agencies and to make sure everyone else in our area has coverage,” said Mountain Fire District spokeswoman Michelle Kelly.
Mountain View encompasses 85,000 residents covering over 250 square miles. The city of Dacono, towns of Erie, Mead, and Superior as well as unincorporated portions of Boulder, Jefferson, and Weld Counties are currently served by the district.
Mountain View’s headquarters is located at 3561 Stagecoach Road, east of Longmont.
Mountain View’s responsibilities grew to include Superior and Marshall in January 2021 when it merged with Rocky Mountain Fire, which was once the Boulder-based Cherryvale Fire Protection District. Rocky Mountain added 53 staff members to Mountain View’s roster of 133 employees after merger, according to Mountain View’s webpage.
The Rocky Mountain Fire District served both Superior, Eldorado Springs and Marshall over 65 square miles. The district included commercial, residential, and wildland areas with elevations ranging from 5,200-8,500-feet, the webpage states.
All that area now falls under Mountain View’s responsibility which last week included the Marshall fire. All levels of the district’s operations were involved in the response, Kelly said.
Mountain View staff participated on both the highly involved and mop up incident management teams, responding to calls within the fire perimeter including unrelated calls such as medical response and fire alarms, and continued normal operations, Kelly said.
“We worked in the administrative office to support our firefighters while also answering calls from the public and media,” Kelly said. “It was all hands on deck.”
A big portion of Mountain View’s work is aiding other agencies in dealing with neighboring fires and other emergencies, she said. “We have been a part of some amazing, and wonderful partnerships,” Kelly said.
While the southwest corner of the district was heavily engaged in Marshall fire activities, Mountain View continued to respond to medical calls, odor investigations, and at least two small structure fires, Kelly said in a news release.
“An often-missed piece is our commitment to the residents of our district not directly impacted by the incident,” Kelly said.
