The mountain area’s newspaper since 1958
WEEK OF JANUARY 2, 2025
VOLUME 66 | ISSUE 7
$2
Jefferson County will hear appeal to Elk Creek Fire’s unification efforts BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
credit to the people who were instrumental in creating EFR and takes a look back at the development of the area before the agency was founded — growth that triggered the need for a community fire department. It is also a visual history of EFR, packed with historic black-and-white photos, newspaper clippings, maps and photos of apparatus, wildfires and rescues. For Anderson, a fourth-generation Evergreen resident who grew up in a firefighting family, co-authoring the book was al-
Jefferson County Commissioners will consider an appeal aimed at stopping Elk Creek Fire’s merger with two other Conifer fire districts, a county attorney wrote Dec. 20. Under the appeal process outlined by the attorney — which allows time for both parties to submit documentation and briefs, and for the county to review the material — commissioners aren’t likely to hold a public hearing on the issue for several weeks. Meanwhile, North Fork and InterCanyon Fire have already merged as the Conifer Fire Protection District. Chiefs of the three agencies — Elk Creek, North Fork and Inter-Canyon — announced this fall they would pursue unification, a process outlined under state statute, after a November 2023 consolidation effort failed. Unification does not include a mill levy increase or require an election. All three boards recently passed motions in favor of unification, but in Elk Creek, board member Chuck Newby voted against the proposal. Newby and district resident Neil Whitehead III filed an appeal in early December, saying the unification process Elk Creek used violates state statute, subverts the voters’ wishes, and could result in higher taxes without voter approval. Attorney Kimberly Sorrells wrote in a Dec. 20 letter that the board will consider one of the three issues Newby and Whitehead raised in their appeal of Elk Creek’s unification effort — whether Elk Creek’s exclusion order violates state statutes. For the three agencies to merge, Elk Creek and Inter-Canyon had to vote to
SEE EFR HISTORY, P2
SEE UNIFICATION, P5
Evergreen volunteer firefighters at the town’s original station 1 on Main Street in about 1950.
COURTESY PHOTO
Book documents 75 years of Evergreen Fire/Rescue BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
When several Evergreen residents decided in 1948 to launch a volunteer fire department, they shared the idea with their fellow residents on foot. “Evergreen was so small that we could pass the word of an organizational meeting by walking up and down Main Street,” founding member A.R. Clark said. “To give you an idea of the community’s size, the area had only 177 phones then. “We met at the schoolhouse and we all chipped in to buy some equipment,” Clark
continued. “We started out with a pump and a hose and a Dodge power wagon.” Clark’s quotes come from the recently released book “Evergreen Fire/Rescue Burning Bright: 75 Years of Valor and Service.” Two years in the making, the book was co-written by longtime EFR volunteer Pete Anderson and EFR auxiliary member Kim Marklund. The 350-page paperback includes stories of the department’s emergency medical services history, the first woman firefighter, the progression of dispatch and 911 services, details about historical fires and personal narratives. The book gives
VOICES: 10 | LIFE: 12 | SPORTS: 16 | PUZZLES: 19
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