Anyone who happened to be listening to scanner traffic on July 10 would have heard police officers, firefighters and first responders from almost every agency in Routt County called out to respond to a series of emergency events that unfolded over the course of an hour and a half.

There was a possible fire that had sparked in a wheat field near Hayden, followed by a drowning at Steamboat Lake in North Routt. Shortly after those calls, a brief but powerful storm blew through the area, downing two power poles in the Silver Spur neighborhood and causing power lines to fall across U.S. Highway 40 near Milner. In addition, there were reports of two traffic crashes, an incident of men fighting in a nearby campground and a lightning strike at another home in the west Steamboat area.

The call volume on this particular night was busier than usual, but it served as a window into the world of local emergency teams – those who respond routinely to life-and-death situations, who spend their nights and weekends and holidays keeping us safe and coming to our rescue during harrowing times.

Read more at The Steamboat Pilot & Today.