Work Under Way To Prevent Flooding In Fourmile Burn Area
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Work is now under way to prevent even more damage from the Fourmile fire.
It was the most destructive in state history. The fire destroyed 169 homes and burned more than 6,000 acres in September. Work is now being done to prevent another problem -- flooding.
The Fourmile fire has been out for months, but with thunderstorm season coming, conservation workers are hurrying to prevent flooding.
"The potential there is for quick runoff carrying sediment down slope, which could end up several miles downstream potentially impacting the city of Boulder," district conservationist Boyd Byelich said.
Hundreds of tons of straw and wood mulch were being helicopter-dropped out over 2,000 acres of the hardest hit areas -- areas where the vegetation has been completely wiped out by the wildfire.
"What the mulch is going to do is in some of the severely burned areas is hold the soil in place for awhile -- a month or two, three months for those plants to re-grow again," Byelich said. "In a heavy rain without this layer of mulch, a lot of this debris and soil on the hillside would roll away and wash right down the canyon."
The month-long rehab effort will likely wrap up by the weekend weather permitting.
The federal government provided $1.5 million to help pay for the rehab work.
