Last month my wife and I had a raccoon take up residence in our chimney. The poor creature got in but couldn’t get out and was trapped for several days. After spending an entire day myself trying to free the animal, I got close but could not get her out.
The next day my wife, obviously brighter than me, called the Vail Fire Department to see if they might be able to lend some assistance. After checking with the boss, Craig Davis, three firefighters showed up at our home. They immediately took up the challenge, got on the roof and worked to get the racoon out. They spent close to an hour trying different techniques to retrieve the animal. In the end they were able to snare her and successfully remove her and release her back into the wild.
The latest state drought map has bad news for the Eagle County and the rest of the Western Slope. That means it’s a good year to tap into wildfire information resources.