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Week of May 12, 2022
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 47
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains: Lessons ‘You couldn’t create a more terrifying scenario’ learned from
Marshall Fire
Fire chiefs and experts hold summit on fire forecasting BY BOB WOOLEY BWOOLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Fire chiefs from Boulder, Louisville and other affected areas met with officials May 4 for a National Weather Service Fire Forecasting discussion. U.S. Representatives Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Joe Neguse (CO-02), representatives from the National Weather Service, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and members of the House Science Committee were part of the discussion. On Dec. 30, 2021, the Marshall fire started just before 10:30 a.m. as a grass fire in Boulder County. In the following 24 hours, it became the most destructive fire in the state’s history, in terms of structures lost. Damages from the fire are estimated to exceed half a billion dollars. An exact cause of the fire has so far not been determined.
Media. “That’s our terrible forecast after the Supreme Court does what we expect it to do.” A day after the court’s decision was leaked, a PPRM health center assistant who wished to remain anonymous said their health center is preparing for an increase in patients. The provider saw 92,000 patients in the last year, according to PPRM’s 2021 annual report. “We’re really prepping for a massive amount of out-of-staters now,” the HCA said. “(We’ve) already had a massive increase since September with Texas, and now, we’re preparing for almost all our neighboring states to join Texas.” The Supreme Court released a statement May 3 verifying the validity of the leaked decision,
‘Everyone’s learned from this’ Louisville Fire Chief John Willson said he had a couple of meetings and was out and about that morning. He noticed it was windy, and knew there was a grass fire around eight miles away, but figured U.S. 36 wouldprovide protection — and it was in grass after all — tall grass of course, dry grass, yes — but just grass. It had been the wrong way to think about it, he said. “It turned very quickly. It hit Superior around 12:30. It hit Louisville around 12:45. I think the resources were thin. I think the predictions were good — it’s just that we didn’t get them — I didn’t get them in time,” he said. It was just one of the things that made it difficult for incident commanders and firefighters on the ground to even try to fight
SEE INFLUX, P2
SEE FIRE, P14
The outside of a PPRM health center in Colorado.
Region’s leading abortion provider gearing up for influx of patients following Roe v. Wade leak BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Vicki Cowart saw this coming. The chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains has been working to get her organization ready for what she calls “our terrible forecast” — the leaked Supreme Court decision indicating that Roe v Wade will be overturned. PPRM, the region’s largest abortion provider, with locations in Colorado, New Mexico and Ne-
vada, finds itself at the center of a nationwide fight for reproductive rights. As neighboring states “go dark” on abortions, Colorado has become a place of refuge for those seeking an abortion, signing into law protections for the reproductive health care that safeguards a person’s right to an abortion. For PPRM, that means a huge influx in out-of-state patients. Health centers have already experienced an uptick in patients since the Texas abortion ban that was signed into law in September 2021, and now must prepare for that situation to extend to other bordering states. “Twenty-six million patients are going to live in a state that does not have abortion,” Cowart said in a September 2021 interview with Colorado Community
COURTESY PHOTO