Tornadoes are a rarity in the Berthoud area, approximately an hour north of Denver, given the weather patterns and topography. In the past, they have been known to strike east of the area where the landscape begins to flatten out.
On June 4, 2015, at approximately 6:45 p.m., Berthoud Fire Protection District Station 1 began to receive telephone reports of a tornado on the ground south and west of town, in the midst of a very strong thunderstorm. At 6:50, Loveland Emergency Communications Center toned out units from the Berthoud Fire Protection District and Loveland Fire Rescue Authority for a reported building collapse on Front Range Drive, a residential area south and west of the town. Per the predetermined response plan, the first alarm assignment for a building collapse in Berthoud toned out a Type 1 and Type 3 engine from Berthoud, and a rescue, battalion and special operations Engine from Loveland. A single medic unit from Thompson Valley Emergency Medical Services was also assigned.
Berthoud Engine 2, with three members, and Engine 23, with one member, encountered torrential rainfall and quarter-size hail that reduced visibility to near zero. Dispatch changed the incident address to Blue Mountain Avenue, one road east of the original dispatch information.
Engine 2 arrived and reported obvious property damage to a fence line and found the Colorado State Patrol on scene, with Blue Mountain Command investigating. The Engine 2 lieutenant split the Station 2 personnel to begin damage assessment. His follow-up report included two homes that had been destroyed and two parties were unaccounted for. Engine 2 personnel began to initiate a search with law enforcement assisting through a debris field that stretched several hundred yards west of the foundation where a home had stood a few minutes earlier. The other half of the crew from Station 2 found two parties sheltered in the basement of a home across the roadway whose second story and roof had been torn off by the storm. Due to the intensity of the ongoing hail and rainstorm, they were advised to continue to shelter in place.
Organized command established
Loveland Rescue 2 and Battalion 1 arrived on scene and began to assist with searching for the unaccounted persons and assessing damage along Blue Mountain. Berthoud Chief 2 arrived on scene, as well and multiple units from Larimer and Boulder County sheriff's offices. Chief 2 relocated into Loveland’s command vehicle as the incident command post (ICP) and conferred with Loveland’s battalion chief, making the determination to take command from Engine 2 and reassign that unit as a rescue group. Multiple mutual aid resources were then requested. Visibility was still near zero from driving rain, and the hailstones pinging off the roof of the battalion made hearing radio traffic difficult at best. Law enforcement units made contact with property owners at the destroyed structure on Blue Mountain, and were able to account for the two parties initially reported missing.
With units from both Larimer and Boulder County operating, a request to patch the initial talk group with a statewide mutual aid frequency was made. Command requested engines from Longmon and Mountain View to the south, and Front Range to the east. Berthoud Engine 1 was also assigned to the incident.
After an abbreviated transfer of command, Loveland Chief 7 was assigned as a rescue group supervisor with Berthoud Engine 2, Loveland Rescue 2 and Berthoud Engine 23 as resources. A Boulder County Sheriff's emergency services division unit was also on scene to the south and east making damage assessment off of County Road 2, and began requesting additional resources.
While responding, Berthoud Engine 1 reported finding structures with partial collapses and heavy damage, and delayed arriving on Blue Mountain Avenue to assess for injuries and/or trapped parties. Multiple reports of structures damaged came into the ICP, as well as reports of additional tornado sightings, multiple gas leaks and downed power lines. A Larimer County Sheriff's deputy joined the command team to assist in coordinating law enforcement and dire operations, and command requested the fire command vehicle from Loveland.
Loveland Chief 3 arrived at the ICP to assist command and established a staging area, requested a separate frequency for staging, and tied in as a senior advisor to command, serving as a single point of contact between command and the dispatch center. Units began reporting significant flooding of the Little Thompson River, which ran east/west through the area affected by the tornado. Prompted by the flooding, which was cutting off resources to the east, and the escalating nature of the incident, command established an east and west division and began allocating resources to perform search and rescue as well as damage assessment. Additional requests went out for another rescue company from Windsor Severance, an engine from Frederick Firestone, and special operations units from Loveland and Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins, some 30 miles north of Berthoud.
Reverse 9-1-1 activated
Berthoud’s fire chief opened the community center as an evacuation site and set up a public information officer function to handle media requests. After consulting with command, Chief 1 initiated an everbridge (reverse 9-1-1) notification to homes along the Little Thompson River for a flood warning and advised evacuation. Units in the field began to radio in information about damaged homes, persons sheltering in place or evacuating, and command began to track the damage reports. Command transitioned to the Loveland Fire Command Vehicle allowing for fire and law enforcement personnel to gather in a single location to better coordinate efforts, establish an incident footprint, and manage incoming resources. Command requested two additional radio frequencies for each operational division, allowing for radio traffic to come somewhat under control. The first incident briefing was held at 9:15 p.m. at the ICP and included command, division supervisors, the law group, and representatives from Colorado Road and Bridge and Larimer County Emergency Operations Center.
In addition, command was being staffed by Berthoud Chief 2, Loveland Chief 3 and 6, Poudre Chief 2, and Loveland TRN1 as logistics. Damage reports continued from 9:30 to 11:45 p.m., with flooding prompting road closures and evacuations in the affected area. The East Division Supervisor reported all structures in the east had been searched and assessed and began to release resources back into staging, followed shortly by the West Division. Command conferred with senior advisors and the law group and determined nightfall dictated that the incident could be scaled down for the overnight period.
A request for additional USAR resources was sent through staging, and it was determined the new operational period would begin at 8:00 a.m. on Day 2. Resources were released from staging, and command was transferred to Loveland Battalion 1 overnight. A single engine and rescue company staffed each division overnight, with one paramedic ambulance and a swiftwater rescue team on scene as well.
Day 2 operations
Berthoud Chief 1 set up a planning section at Station 1, and Chief 2 met there to draft the incident action plan (IAP) for day two from 12:00 a.m. to 3 a.m. Media contacts began in earnest at 1:30 a.m., from local affiliates, newspapers and national morning news programs. During the overnight, crews in each division patrolled the damaged area and assessed flood conditions near the river.
At 8 a.m., there was another briefing at the ICP, a review of the IAP for Day 2 and command was transferred back to Berthoud Chief 2. USAR squads from Loveland and Poudre, with K9 assets, were assigned a Berthoud engine company and a division to perform thorough secondary searches and damage assessments. Each division was also assigned a crew from the local gas utility. These units radioed information into command from 8:30 until 3 p.m. Having completed their search and damage assessment functions, West Division resources assisted in the East Division before both were demobilized around 3 p.m. Command then briefed the law group that fire operations had ceased, and the incident was stabilized. Command was terminated at 3:24 p.m. with all fire units clearing, and law enforcement continuing to patrol the damaged area.
In the subsequent days, the National Weather Service determined that an EF3 tornado, with winds topping 165 mph touched down east of Highway 287 and traveled northwest toward the foothills for more than five miles, staying on the ground for approximately 13 minutes. An estimated 16 structures suffered minor to moderate damage, with another four homes suffering heavy damage or total destruction. There were no injuries. The incident response consisted of more than a dozen police, fire and EMS agencies, more than 30 apparatus and 90-plus responders. The incident spanned two operational periods and lasted 20 hours, 26 minutes.
After-action review findings
An after-action review was conducted three weeks after the event, first for the command level staff, then for line personnel. Significant takeaways from the incident review included:
- Rebuilding response plans for structure collapse to include multiple alarm levels.
- Establishing an incident footprint early in the incident (even if estimated) and communicating to all personnel.
- Establishing trigger points for transitioning resource orders from the field to an activated EOC. Public Safety Answering Points must communicate with EOC.
- Assigning a single point of contact for law group at the ICP, who can communicate with all law enforcement agencies to better integrate into command.
- Assigning a task force to utility restoration crews so they have a law/fire escort.
- Working to prevent resource ordering from outside the ICP. Integrating all functions of the incident command system at the ICP and not off site.
- Confirming that all resource requests include information regarding staging area and staging officers’ radio frequency.
- When requesting USAR assets, provide specific information about tasks to be performed, such as the need for hazmat, K9, etc.
The success of this incident was a result of a number of factors, the first of which being the strong relationships between agencies. The area’s history of escalating wildland fires, and the commitment to automatic and mutual aid agreements that cross county lines facilitated our ability to amass a large volume of resources in a very short time frame. There is no way a jurisdiction as small as Berthoud Fire could have handled this incident alone.
If you aren’t reaching out to your neighboring departments before the event, you won’t be able to count on them during it. Build those relationships; the operations chiefs from five of the involved fire departments meet monthly for lunch, rotating into each other’s jurisdiction to discuss issues, socialize, and maintain these relationships.
Second, the availability of multiple tactical frequencies allowed command to organize the incident effectively and delegate responsibility without bogging down communications. All told, the incident utilized five different 800-mhz frequencies. Consider creating and disseminating a countywide or an intercounty communications plan for large-scale events. This effort locally has been driven by some large wildland fires and proved invaluable during the tornado.
And third, the command team approach of having the Loveland operations chief and battalion chief, as well as the Berthoud operations chief, lent itself to an organized, decisive and thorough management of the event.
The command team for the Berthoud Tornado respond to mutual aid events regularly, train at mutual aid live burns annually, and participate in and teach hazard zone management together, making their ability to command and cooperate on this large incident much more effective. Are your agencies identifying local players to staff the command team when a large incident affects your department? These relationships and resources can make a world of difference on the next big one.
ROBERT STUMPF has been involved with the fire service for 17 years and is currently with the Berthoud Fire Protection District in Berthoud, CO.
