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<br />Sunday. July 14, 1~
<br />
<br />
<br />fITe sets stage for Buffalo <=::reek flood that kills i
<br />
<br />
<br />'flood was. you would say. 'How did had left their campfire Ulldoa.~ a
<br />t.h.at come out o! tbat stream?'" lowing a gust of wind to spreadltl
<br />Mark's parents, Susan and Steve sparks that started the blaze.
<br />Davenport, had no news about their "Now people are getting lined,
<br />son for more than 12 hours. said one woman, bitter QV(>.! the boy
<br />"We actually didn't know bow seri- carelessness.
<br />ous it was until we watched the 10 In the aftennath of the fire,";.ru
<br />o'clock news, and at that point ~ere oat seeds were planted in the bumc
<br />was nothing we could do," Susan DOl\'- areas, but the sprouts hadn't grow
<br />enport said. "We called Pablo's rami- enough to help mitigate the n()()(
<br />ly, and this morning (Saturday) at Given another month, the seeds nU.gt
<br />10:30, we got a call that they got out have fully sprouted, minimizingJth
<br />and he was OK." damage, one official said. .....
<br />Jim Enix, a vacationer from Okla- Slacey Dreier was driving Ion
<br />bama who keeps a summer borne in Deckers to Conifer along Jeffers.o
<br />Buffalo Creek, said the deluge de- County 126 when the ill-fated Joh
<br />strayed 200 feet of fence on his prop- Tinker passed her in his truck. Ye:
<br />erty and uprooted dozens of trees. terday, sbe learned what had happet
<br />The floodwaters swept away Enix's ed to him.
<br />utility trailer. "It should have been me.. .,-61J
<br />"We just have a big sand acreage was with me," she said. ',:
<br />where there used to be beautiful trees Mary Green, whose family own
<br />and grass," he said. "We come out ev- the general store that serves as.{t:
<br />ery year to enjoy the season, bllt this post office, voting precinct and goosi
<br />year has been a bummer." CX':nter of Buffalo Creek, was amon
<br />.Among the casualties of the flood yesterday's weary.looking. I-
<br />was a home for teenage boys who are "I have this terrible feeling." at!
<br />victims of abuse. said, "that 1996 will never end." "
<br />"Without water, we can't keep Contributions to rebaild the Ba:Ual
<br />tbem bere," said its director, Chuck Creek firehouse can be sent to-.th
<br />Carrington. "Unfortunately, we have North Fork Fire Protection DistriCl
<br />no place to go." . P.O. Box 183, Buffalo Creek, Cole
<br />A group of Lakewood teenagers on 8G42S. ...,
<br />a,n overnight camping trip acciden- Staff writers CiDdy Brovsty, PRtr.
<br />tally started the May 18 fire that ex. cia CaIlahaa and ADgeJil Cortez CJJ:
<br />acerbated Friday's damage. The boys tributed to this report. -,;
<br />
<br />THE DENVER POST
<br />
<br />
<br />TheOel1YerPos!:Jo.yeButesh
<br />leowner Marianne Spradlin said she saw 8 neighbor's propane
<br />rush by in the swollenwaters of Buffalo Creek. Trees that lined
<br />'Oad near her house ended up In a gully. '
<br />
<br />County sheriff's Lt. Fritz Day.
<br />it until you see the devastation.
<br />won't believe it. It's one click
<br />t of nuclear."
<br />lborers wielding pickaxes and
<br />...bars began dismantling what
<br />left of the fire station yesterday
<br />e a front-end loader pushed dirt
<br />. the spot where the bridge had
<br />d, ~nabling pedestrians to cross
<br />m. Helicopters overhead
<br />.or more victims, although
<br />~ \lere anticipated.
<br />rewn along the road were over.
<br />ed cars and trucks, uprooted old
<br />s and giant sections of asphalt.
<br />stann had washed propane tanks
<br />trees down the creek and filled
<br />es and cars with mud.
<br />Je town was still without electric-
<br />lnd telephone service yesterday,
<br />officials predicted there wouldn't
<br />
<br />be nmning water until September at
<br />the earliest Several vacationers said
<br />they would stay despite the lack of
<br />drinking and bath water.
<br />"I suppose we can go to Denver for
<br />a shower," said ODe. .
<br />The water problem was uppermost
<br />in the mind of 85-year--old Katherine
<br />Ramus. owner of the Blue Jay Inn, a
<br />bed-and"breakfast that's on the Na-
<br />tional Register of Historic Places.
<br />"I've been here since 1921," she
<br />said. "I have seen this gully flooded
<br />many times, but this is the worsl The
<br />water never got this high before. I've
<br />seen floods bring down trees and
<br />beds, and one time a dead cow. But
<br />never anything like this."
<br />Friday's flood was the second crisis
<br />in three months for sisters Jennifer
<br />King McGuire and Aimee Rogers and
<br />their parents. Aimee and her parents
<br />
<br />Wait until you see the
<br />devastation, You won't
<br />believe it It's one dick
<br />short of nuclear.
<br />
<br />Sheriff's Lt Fritz Oar
<br />
<br />,
<br />
<br />lost their homes to the May fire.
<br />When the deluge hit, they 1 hought
<br />they'd lost Jennifer.
<br />Aimee said Jennife.r, scared. she
<br />would die, wrote letw.rs to her family
<br />and put them in plastic eontainers,
<br />Then she put b€r cat in a earrier and
<br />left her house.
<br />"Dad was looking for .Jeonifer in
<br />the gullies," Rogers said. "They
<br />thought she was dead."
<br />Jennifer turned up alive.
<br />Mark Davenport and Pable. Cone-
<br />jog, 13.year-old Denver boys, :,pent a
<br />harrowing night in a famil~ cabin
<br />outside a stream that empties into
<br />Buffalo Creek.
<br />"It started out as a sprinkle, then
<br />started thundering hard and r~ining,"
<br />Davenport said yesterday. "We just
<br />heard this boom, looked out at the
<br />creek, and it was a huge flooC_ and it
<br />was just taking everything wir.b il"
<br />The youths and two ~lccom~.anying
<br />adults remained in the cabin over-
<br />night but often talked of rno'fing to
<br />higber ground.
<br />"We looked out from the living
<br />room window and water was just
<br />splashing off rocks, getting about 10
<br />to 20 feet in tb€ air," Davenport said.
<br />"Really big trees, 30 to 40 fed high,
<br />(would crack) and fall into the water.
<br />"But they didn't sink; they just took.
<br />off like spears with the water. It was
<br />pretty unexpected, because the creek
<br />there is small, and to see bow hig tbe
<br />
<br />THE DENVER Posr Co.","", '996
<br />A MediaNell's Group Newspaper
<br />.W__ I~W_
<br />'UAO ...1.10
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<br />
<br />Vol 104
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<br />llb.342..-
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