Opinion - Rural Colorado county gets ready for wildfire

When LaPlata County in southern Colorado needed a boss of emergency preparedness, they found a winner in Shawn Lagarza, an experienced firefighter whose career spanned working on Hotshot crews to overseeing all federal firefighting in California, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. Now, she wants Durango residents and others in the county to prepare themselves for a time wildfire approaches. During the week of April 20, 42 neighborhoods will participate in mock evacuations, responding to an alert as if fire danger were the real thing. “We’re not going to live forever,” she said, “and every day becomes more precious than the day before. Let’s all be ready for the worst.”