As we take a Deep Dive into the Colorado Springs Wildland-Urban Interface, News5 would like to know your opinion on growth in the city.
Results:
71% No
18% Need more information
12% Yes
We're following this survey throughout the day and into tomorrow. Tune in to News5 at 4 p.m. as we review the results!
Editor's note: This survey is not based on scientific, representative samples and is solely for KOAA purposes.
Colorado Springs is one of the nation's fastest-growing cities. With that, every year researchers are finding new people are living in areas at risk for wildfires. News5 takes a Deep Dive into what these areas look like and what's being done to keep them safe.
Colorado Springs alone has more than 100 neighborhoods inside the Wildland-Urban Interface otherwise known as areas full of vegetation and at major risk for wildfire.
News5 visited one of those neighborhoods near Ute Valley Park where fire prevention efforts have to happen every year. That includes educating people who are new to the neighborhood about the dangers and what can be done.
Nine years ago people in west-side neighborhoods in Colorado Springs scrambled to evacuate as the Waldo Canyon Fire burned the city's mountain backdrop, then raced down the hillside and onto city streets consuming more than 300 homes in its path.
"There's a lot of people moving here now that have no idea. They do not remember that. They were not a part of that. So they forget the delicate nature of this," said Christine Thomas who has lived in a neighborhood with wildfire risks for the last 30 years.
Thomas says lessons were learned from the Waldo Canyon Fire and the work to defend against those risks never ends.
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