Vail Fire and Emergency Services will again provide a free curbside chipping service to assist property owners with defensible space on private property. The service will be available beginning Tuesday, May 28 and will extend to Oct. 10.

Beginning the week of May 6, the Town of Vail will establish two distribution points for free sand material and empty bags for residents and merchants who wish to safeguard their property from the possibility of high water. Sand and bags will be available at the parking lot near the I-70 interchange in East Vail and at the North Trail parking lot in West Vail. Residents should bring a shovel and be prepared to fill their own bags while supplies last. Contractors are asked to make their own arrangements for sandbags for commercial construction projects.

Members of the public are invited to join Eagle County Emergency Responders for the 18th annual emergency responder recognition on Friday, May 10. The activities will begin at 9:30 a.m. when participants will gather at Freedom Park in Edwards to line up for a “Ride in Remembrance” event featuring motorcycles, classic cars and emergency response vehicles.

Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services continue pile burns on Friday, April 26, as conditions permit. The operations will take place on the Vail golf course.

Vail Fire and Emergency Services has entered into a unique partnership with the University of Bordeaux in Southern France to host an exchange student who is completing an internship in emergency services. The intern, Marion Bardeau, is completing her degree in health, safety and the environment. During the internship, Bardeau will live in the fire station and observe Vail’s methods of firefighting and delivery of other emergency services. In addition, she will be completing a data analysis project related to risk assessment and system performance for the department.

Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services will continue a second day of pile burns on Thursday, April 18 as conditions permit. The operations are taking place on the Deer Underpass State Wildlife Area at the west end of the Intermountain neighborhood.

Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services have scheduled pile burns for Wednesday, April 17, as conditions permit. The operations will take place on the Deer Underpass State Wildlife Area at the west end of the Intermountain neighborhood.

With the snowmelt season approaching, the Town of Vail is issuing its annual reminder to area property owners to review their current insurance policies and consider adding flood insurance to the coverage. As of April 11, Vail snowpack levels are at 97 percent of normal, while Copper Mountain, which is indicative of the Vail Pass area, is at 136 percent of normal. Gore Creek has seen the beginning of increased stream flows due to warmer temperatures in the past couple of weeks and are about normal for this time of year.

Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services will be conducting pile burn operations over the month as conditions permit. These burns will take place near the Vail Golf Course and the west end of Intermountain on the Deer Underpass State Wildlife Area.

 

The Vail Fire Department will be testing an acoustical warning device from the West Vail Fire Station from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, April 19. The test had originally been scheduled to occur in March but was postponed due to inclement weather. Residents in the neighborhood will hear test messages as officials evaluate the effectiveness and range of the system.

Crews from Vail Fire and Emergency Services will be conducting prescribed fire operations in mid to late April as conditions permit. The prescribed fire will take place in the Katsos Ranch area of East Vail on approximately 3 acres of Town of Vail land and 1 acre of Colorado Department of Transportation right of way. Notice will be provided 24 hours prior to the prescribed fire.

The Town of Vail’s Annual Community Meeting, held on March 12, is available for viewing on demand, courtesy of High Five Access Media at https://www.highfivemedia.org/show/community-meeting-2019.

Join participants on Saturday, March 30 for the Annual Polar Plunge at Nottingham Lake in Avon to benefit Special Olympics of Colorado. Registration begins at 11 a.m.; the Plunge takes place at 1 p.m. as participants submerge themselves in the water despite the cold temperatures.

The Vail Town Council is seeking input from the community on a proposed franchise fee increase between the Town of Vail and Holy Cross Energy at its evening meeting on Tuesday, March 19. The action item discussion is listed as 5.1 on the meeting agenda which begins at 6 p.m.

Vail’s Annual Community Meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12 at Donovan Pavilion will be headlined by a celebration recognizing noted water attorney Glenn Porzak as the recipient of the annual Trailblazer Award as well as a look back on accomplishments from 2018, an update on new initiatives and a tribute to fire Lt. Scott Bridges who is recovering from injuries he sustained while helping at an accident scene on his way to work.