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000728 Mudslide warning'system to be installed next mo:nthin Red.:Cliff By JOHN JANSEN The state division of public safety plans to instaJl an elaborate emergency warning system near Red Cliff to warn. residents in case a. mudslide develops this spring. "You know the story in Red Cliff," said Bob Kistner, the division's public assistance officer. '"They haven't got any bucks. And it will never get accomplished if we don't go. ahead and do iL.' . Kistner also.. persuaded the " town to invest in flood and mud . insurance. something the town of Vail is also investigating for its administration and bus building in East Vail. Those buildings are located in what is rated as a "medium" hazard area in the town's designated ugeologically sensitive areas." There are no such designa- tions in Red Cliff, so no one is certain of the amount of danger the town is in. But Kistner, who. was at the. site -Tuesday, is predicting a repeat ofJast year's slide just outside of town. "That snow gets into those areas that are already slumped out, likein BoothCreeklin Vail) and those places:' said Kistner, "and that's going to take moisture all winter, because all of the. grasses and everythinR are gone. So you're going to have slides in the same places 8S last year," K,ist.ner and otqer" stat.e employees - plan to, install the waminR' "devices 80metime in" ","pril, Tbe"ir; p~~n" is ,~"opl_8ce. a ." ,.-, '"0' ,". .," .. _ " ':"" " strobe light and a siren on" an electrical pole, and then run about 2,000 feet of wire along the ground. Whe"n the ground moves, according to the plan, the wire movement would trip the siren and the strobe lights. There are other con8ider~ Rold" said the mudslides last a tions, such as getting spring did not occur as a result of permission from. the Public 'heavy fall, snow; he said they Service Company of Colorado to occurred. because of heavy" u~e the pole. It is also possible, spring snow. according to Kistner, that a deer ,":"Those were due mainly to a could .trip the wire, causing a "" buildup of'a. lot of anow late in false alarm. But" Kistner _said:" the 'spring," and then a rapid . that is simply part of the price melting,!' said RoId. URight now residents will have to pay for the "'m con~rt:led .about the deeper, extra security. larger landsJides. But until we The 'devices would "be see what the snow patterns and connected to a photoelectric cell, "the. weather patterns" are the which would provide solar next ~hree montha, there's no power for the entire unit. way that anybody could make- Wet Fall Signalling an intelligent prediction of Slides in Spring what's going to happen on the Throughout the mountain "debris flows and the mud flows." regions in Colorado, conditions In Vail, town officials have appear ripe for a recurrence of extra money budgetf"~ for_ early last year's many mudslides. season helicopter surveilance of Colorado Stale Geologist John potential slide areas: An annual Rold said this week that the meeting between officials of snowfall in October and local police, fire, Forest Service, November of 1984 was from 200 town, and Vail Associates is percentt0400percentofnormaJ. planned for next month to plan "This is kind of a danger sign for any emergencies arising to us because that snow was from natural disasters.So far, no coming down and soaking in date for the meetinl{ has been u~!ore the Kround froze," said set. RoM. '"'And. we've noticed a correlation between land slides in the spring and heavy snows in the fall before the ground freezes. So that's" got us concerned."