S T E A M B O AT
TODAY
FRIDAY
JUNE 26, 2009
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
®
Vol. 21, No. 152
RO U T T
INSIDE
FREE
C O U N T Y ’ S
DA I LY
N E W S PA P E R
Summertime skiing
E X P L O R E S T E A M B O AT Your weekend guide Page 23
SPORTS
Spiking in Miami Page 35
Correction Justin Ditter’s name was misspelled in a page 21 story, “Legion loses 2,” in Thursday’s Steamboat Today.
Officials prep for fires Tabletop exercise helps officials plan for beetle-fueled blazes Zach Fridell
■ INDEX Briefs . . . . . . . . .10 Business. . . . . . .34 Classifieds . . . . .43 Colorado. . . . . . .18 Comics . . . . . . . .41 Crossword . . . . .41
JON WADE/COURTESY
Alden Wade insisted on wearing his mom, Wendy’s, straw hat during a water skiing outing at a private lake near Saddle Mountain on Wednesday. Temperatures surpassed 80 degrees, one of the few times this month it has been comfortable to water ski without a wet suit.
PILOT & TODAY STAFF
Happenings . . . . .7 Horoscope . . . . .42 Nation. . . . . . . . .20 Sports. . . . . . . . .35 ViewPoints . . . . . .8 Weather . . . . . . .51
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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
As the threat of dangerous conditions created by beetlekilled pine increases in Routt County, firefighters are beginning to rethink their priorities and attitudes toward fighting
■ LOTTO Thursday night’s Cash 5 numbers: 15-16-19-28-29 Drawings are held Monday through Saturday.
big blazes. U.S. Forest Service Fire Management Officer Tony Tezak said that firefighters may no longer expect to contain fires when they are small. Historically, firefighters have been able to extinguish 90 percent of fires “before anyone notices,” he said, but when the
■ WEATHER
Not as warm with a storm. High of 73.
Page 51
lives of firefighters are endangered, it may not be worth it to save dead trees. Tezak was one of several dozen firefighters and emergency responders who convened at the Routt County Courthouse on Thursday for a tabletop exercise, led by U.S. Forest Service Fire Management Officer Mark
Cahur, to demonstrate and plan how local agencies would contain a spreading fire. “What the beetle kill has done to us is, when the winds blow, the risk of snags falling is greatly increased,” he said, referring to dead trees that can See Fire, page 13
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