Police Chief Brian Olson discusses Snowmass evacuation protocol

Police Chief Brian Olson is advising Snowmass Village not to fixate on a specific route out of town in the event of an evacuation.

Given the varied types of incidents and evacuation plans, he’d rather people be wary of the communication methods the police use to instruct during a public emergency.

“There are no established evacuation routes out of Snowmass Village,” Olson told The Aspen Times on Tuesday. “We will establish an evacuation route at the time that there is a need. So based on the incident, the type of incident, the location of the incident — that will dictate how incident command creates an evacuation process.”

If a wildfire, for example, approached the town over the hill from Wildcat Ranch into Horse Ranch Road, the evacuation plan would be different than if one advanced over the ridge above Mountain View, he told council in a Monday meeting.

Olson said they will reach both residents and visitors on their cell phones through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System hopefully days before an evacuation is necessary. He said they can also access people’s landline phones for emergency messaging. 

“(With) wildfires, hopefully, in most scenarios we will have some advanced warning,” Olson said, adding, “So even if you’re a visitor, if you’re in our area, we can still hit your cell phone and get you an emergency message.”

Evacuation alerts and plans also apply to gas main explosions, water main breaks, floods, active harmers, or other public safety threats, according to Olson.

“If you’re at all worried, leave early,” he said of the time leading up to an evacuation notice.

With four roads out of the roughly 3,000-person mountain town, traffic congestion is likely in the event of a rapid exodus. Olson estimated it would take a handful of hours to evacuate Snowmass,  which is why the town has an alert system in place to inform the public days in advance of a potential evacuation.

“An evacuation can always be lengthy and complicated,” Olson told The Aspen Times.

The four roads leaving Snowmass include Brush Creek Road, Owl Creek Road, Snowmass Creek Road, and through private property. 

Olson said he’s not in favor of doing evacuation drills due to the unpredictable nature of incidents. He worries people could assume the wrong exit if practiced in a specific evacuation plan.

Additionally, the police department works with Pitkin Alert to get emergency messages to Snowmass residents and visitors. It is also in the process of installing Genasys Protect, a mapping app used successfully in the recent Los Angeles fires, which designates zones throughout a metropolitan area so officials can more succinctly aid and communicate with residents in specific locations, according to Olson. They hope to have the app running in May.

He advised residents to download Reachwell, a phone app that provides Pitkin Alerts, which can be done at reachwellapp.com/app. The department would also reach out to all local media sources to notify the public of evacuation information, he said. 

Council member Tom Fridstein said he would like to see the police do more public outreach to the public so they know what to expect in emergencies. 

Council members suggested creating pamphlets and postcards to spread evacuation information.

Olson agreed to come back to council with plans to engage further with the public later this spring.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.