Rocky Flats Wildland Fire Information

In the event of an active wildland fire at or near the Rocky Flats Site, Colorado, a county government (most likely Jefferson County) will act as the lead agency in coordinating response efforts and provide the most up-to-date information. The LM Emergency Management Organization will work with local emergency services to provide support and information regarding the Rocky Flats Site. The Rocky Flats Site is in Jefferson County and surrounded by the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. On its northern boundary, the refuge borders Boulder County. A portion of the refuge’s eastern boundary borders Broomfield County.

County Emergency Management Offices

• Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management.
• Boulder County Office of Emergency Management.
• Broomfield County Office of Emergency Management.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge

The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a 5,237-acre nature preserve that surrounds the remediated area monitored and managed by LM. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is responsible for wildland fire management at the refuge. These responsibilities include fire planning, suppression, and prevention and prescribed burns within refuge boundaries. USFWS works closely with federal, state, and local partners for fire and habitat management and, as good neighbors, works with local communities and landowners to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfire. USFWS stations a fire engine at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge during summer fire season. 

All other fire-mitigation protocols and emergency-management guidance detailed herein are specific to only LM and its site responsibilities at the Rocky Flats Site.
 

History of Fires

Over time, the Rocky Flats Site has been subject to infrequent lightening and human-caused fires. The Rocky Flats Site is mostly grassland, where fire is a natural part of the ecosystem. Fire helps grassland ecosystem health by promoting vegetation growth and diversity. Between 1993 and 2011, the Rocky Flats Site had 11 wildfires and one prescribed burn in 2000. 

Site Conditions

Colorado’s wildfire season typically runs from May through October, though wildfires can happen out of season, too. Fire behavior depends on the fuel (including its moisture and density), air temperature, wind, and humidity. Fuels located at the Rocky Flats Site include: 

• Grassland fuel, such as dead vegetation and thatch that have accumulated due to the lack of fire. 
• Shrublands and woodlands, such as those located along the streams and in the bottom of site drainages; however, these are not considered to be major fuel load sources.
• Trees, such as those located throughout the site; these are also not considered to be a major fuel load source. 
   

Studies performed in the 1990s and 2000s — which included data collection from controlled burns, wildfires, and modeling — indicate no significant increase in radiological risk associated with smoke to downwind residents. As a worst-case scenario, a modeling of a hypothetical grass fire (see page 90) considered the effects on a firefighter standing directly in a smoke plume, immediately downwind of a fire, without respiratory protection. Unless activities in the soil were significantly greater than closure cleanup levels for plutonium, americium, or uranium, this firefighter would receive a dose of less than 1 millirem (mrem) from the fire. Therefore, due to dispersion of the smoke plume, the dose to downwind residents from the smoke would be many orders of magnitude lower. The average annual per-person dose across the United States from all sources is 620 mrem, which is attributed to natural background radiation and non-natural sources.

Surveys support that previously existing contaminant sources, such as those in certain building areas and the 903 Pad soil, were removed at levels below regulatory and agreed-upon community standards. Today, with major potential sources in the surface soil removed, the probability of radiological contaminants becoming airborne is low.

The Rocky Flats Site includes the following features:

• Cleanup crews buried the remaining infrastructure — buildings, slabs, and basements — and subsurface soils with residual radiological contamination beneath at least 3 feet of clean soil, which acts as a physical barrier separating abandoned infrastructure and contaminated soil from a fire and mitigating heat transfer.
• Only dispersed, low-level residual contamination remains in surface soils at the site.
• There are no underground natural wildland fire fuel sources, such as coal seams
   

When it is considered safe for personnel to return after a fully extinguished wildland fire at or near the Rocky Flats Site, LM will inspect the impacted area with a focus on site integrity and ecology and remedy infrastructure. LM will work with regulators — the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — to plan and complete any necessary maintenance and repairs. LM will make the contact records, developed during these discussions with regulators, publicly available on the LM website following signature approval by all parties. LM will notify engaged stakeholders about contact record postings by email. LM will also establish additional dialogue with the public as warranted, based on the nature of the conditions or by the level of interest.

LM takes personal safety and fire-prevention awareness seriously. If conditions increase the potential risk of a wildland fire, there are required safety processes in place to evaluate and mitigate the risk. LM will discuss the hazards and share the mitigation requirements for fire prevention at the site each day with site personnel, subcontractors, and visitors before they go to the site to ensure that all parties are aware of their required actions to prevent a fire.

Current fire-prevention actions at the Rocky Flats Site include:

• LM routinely performs selective mowing, such as trimming and spot mowing weeds. This works for small-scale areas where trimming weeds is practical or where the ground surface is suitable for mowing equipment. LM typically mows gravel access road edges and centers during the summer to reduce the potential of starting a fire with catalytic converters and mufflers on vehicles. 
• LM applies herbicide to control and reduce the abundance of noxious weeds that can become fuel.
• LM annually grades access roads to remove vegetation from road surfaces and provides a fire break, helping prevent fire from moving across the site. These roads also provide access for first responders who need to reach remote areas of the site when fighting a fire. 
   

• Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 
• Rocky Flats Interagency Fact Sheet for Air Monitoring and Wildland Fires.