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<br />Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire
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<br />Final Edition
<br />...... * * 'flt 5Oe1$' ,00 in selecled areas
<br />
<br />~lash flooding kills 2
<br />
<br />Deluge
<br />was 'like
<br />an ocean'
<br />
<br />By PatricIa Callahan
<br />Oet!v.r Post StlNWriler
<br />
<br />BUFFALO CREEK - Every
<br />20 feet ar so, tbey would stumble
<br />across some sOOoen medical sup-
<br />plies. A lime-green backboard. A
<br />crushed intravenous drip bag. A
<br />mangled Ace haDdage.
<br />Before daybreak yesterday,' be-
<br />lore anyolle knew the true dam.
<br />age of the flood that transformed
<br />Buffalo Creek into a wall of Wa-
<br />ter, volunteer fireflghter Scott
<br />Melvin and others stood in djs~
<br />Uef OD" the banks 01 the rushing
<br />creek, transfixed by the relentless
<br />power of nature that bas cursed
<br />the sleepy area for two months.
<br />'By the eerie glow of f1ashllghls,
<br />emergency workers could see that
<br />the flood reduced the area's blue-
<br />sided fin~house to. three crum-
<br />bling walls with a battered ambu-
<br />lance Inside. Mired In ash and
<br />mud, it looked like a toy car In a
<br />sandbox. In May, the North Fork
<br />Fire Protection Distrld firehouse
<br />served as a nerve center in the
<br />battle to {ell the fire that scorch.
<br />ed 11,t1t16 acres of the Pike Na.
<br />tional Forest over 10 days.
<br />"That ambulance was less than
<br />a year old," Melvin 'aid, de.
<br />feated, as his feet sank into the
<br />muck on the banks above the fall.
<br />en building. "It was our newest
<br />vehicle."
<br />Those who lived near tbe fire.
<br />house prepared for the worst duro
<br />ing the forest lire, and firefight.
<br />en: were able to contain the blaze
<br />before it could claim Melvin's or
<br />his neighbors' houses. Then, offl.
<br />cials warned that !.he eroded for-
<br />esl, dl!vastated by the fire, would
<br />not be ahle to slow heavy rains
<br />Please see CREEK on SA
<br />
<br />
<br />. The_ ~nV'" Post i,:D.~_-B~.~
<br />The North Fork firehouse sits In ruins yesterday 8fter.tBufralo;
<br />Creek swelled and flooded, washing the bundlng~s,'tron.t..WBlt
<br />away and ruining an ambulance. . <_ . ~;. .,"\l/(i;~},
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Buffalo Creek fj~
<br />set a deadly tr~p:,.'~~:
<br />
<br />
<br />I ed him ;r, '," .', . :-~-: . ~..,~, -. ~.":" I
<br />ow up.. ":: ,"..~_,.It },;)" "":'--",~
<br />The second flood vid~m, Alex'Sa,:
<br />lazar, 73, of Lakewood, was discov;~
<br />ered dead along the' nearl1y North'
<br />Fork of the'South Platte River,
<br />which is fed by Buffalo Creek. He
<br />ha'd been remodeling a home in an
<br />area about 5 miles from the town of
<br />Buffalo Creek and living in a trail-
<br />er, which was caught In the rising
<br />currenl
<br />The awesome power-of water' was
<br />evident in tiny Buffalo Creet; which
<br />narrowly escaped the wildfire but
<br />suffered badly from Friday's storm.
<br />The damage was a direct result of
<br />the flre, which ravaged the Pike
<br />NaUortal;. Forest,' ,destroying trees
<br />and groundcover 00 the hillsides
<br />overlooking the creek that runs
<br />
<br />By Alan Katz
<br />and Christopher Lopez:
<br />Oenver Post Stl" Wrlters
<br />
<br />BUFFALO CREEK - First
<br />came the fire in May, followed Fri-
<br />day night by floodwaters cascading
<br />down the blackened hills. And yes-
<br />terday,lt came time for residenls of
<br />beleaguered Buffalo Creek to dig
<br />out from a deluge that left two ~
<br />pie dead and wreckage everywhere.
<br />Two men drt>wned in the storm
<br />that slammed through rural west-
<br />.. ern Jefferson County 35 miles
<br />southwest of .Denver, where 12,000
<br />, acres had" been strlpped- of vegeta-
<br />.',", ,;";Jl.q~:b.y,,~~._b~a~~.. :
<br />~ 0."_ POSl! DIY Bures;' . searcherS found the body of John
<br />One sJde of Jefferson Co:untY,126 was demol!s~e~ by Frtday~., 'shlng Tinker, 43, of Pine, who died inside
<br />water, Residents who _~ere cau.9.ht, on th~..,!,,!r.C)p'g,;~lde. of the uesm bi:ii: Ford truck when a wall of water
<br />were forced Inlo shelters and fnends' hOI'Tl_.e~. '~:::;:.:tV"~' . . rushing down Buffalo Creek swal-
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<br />Please see Flq~~~~~~. 4A
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