Environmental crew spends lunch hour battling grass fire
Lunch hour recently turned into fire-fighting hour for a CGRS Environmental Services Geologist and a subcontractor’s team.
The crew was on its lunch break at a CGRS Environmental Services site in Wiggins, Colorado, when CGRS Geologist Wyatt Jeffery saw smoke rising in the distance above the tanks at the job site. He took off running to find out what was on fire and the Alpine Remediation crew followed as they, too, saw the smoke.
Spotting a grass fire on the other side of the road – and understanding the consequences if it was left unchecked for too long in dry, windy conditions – the four jumped into the Alpine truck hauling a tank full of water and headed for the fire. On the way Jeffery called 911, which had already received calls about the fire, and learned members of the Wiggins Volunteer Fire Department would respond to the fire after getting the necessary gear at the fire station. While they waited for the fire crew to arrive, two of the Alpine employees drove the water rig around and sprayed the fire, while Jeffery and the other two stomped out flames as they could.
Travis Moore, Wiggins’ interim fire chief, said the fire’s cause was unknown but it’s believed it started near the rest area at the interchange of U.S. 34 and I-76 and burned about an acre. The CGRS/Alpine crew helped control the fire’s spread rate while the volunteer firefighters responded to the call. The fire was extinguished before it reached any structures or a propane tank nearby.
Once the firefighters arrived and had the fire under control, the CGRS/Alpine crew returned to their job site and finished their assignment for the day. Jeffery recorded in his job notes that he spotted the fire around 11:30 a.m. – 15 minutes after breaking for lunch – and returned to drilling at the job site around 12:15 p.m.
