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Local Motion: Hugh Carson on Emergency Ops during the Front Range Floods

Hugh Carson

For this episode of Local Motion, we spoke to retired firefighter Hugh Carson about his experience helping to coordinate emergency response in the wake of the historic flooding that hit the Front Range in September.

Carson has a long history with disaster management, and has spoken to KVNF before about his experiences with wildfire. He joins us this time for an insider's look at how emergency personnel deal with a much different element: water, and lots of it.

On September 13th, the day after floodwaters wreaked havoc on communities along the Front Range, Carson and other Western Slope disaster management personnel were called to Larimer County to essentially take over emergency operations there.

Carson was situated as an Air Operations Director for the search-and-rescue efforts conducted with the help of the National Guard and Larimer County authorities, among others. Hugh says the level of devastation was unprecedented in his experience, but that the calm, organized manner of emergency personnel helped to save lives and prevent the disaster from being much worse.

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