Reverse-911 Notification

Our primary method for notifying the community of the need to evacuate is via reverse-911 notifications. These notices are sent out by the Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority (LETA) at the request of Crystal Lakes VFD or law enforcement. 

You must sign up to receive LETA notifications by going to NOCOAlert (www.nocoalert.org)!

Notifications via this system may be Voluntary Evacuations or Mandatory Evacuations (see below for more information).

Door-to-Door Notification

Our secondary method of notifying the community to evacuate is by making contact with people on each property in the evacuation area.  These notifications may be made by members of the Crystal Lakes VFD or by law enforcement. All properties that have been contacted will be flagged -- please do not remove flagging tape until after the incident is over, as the colors help following teams know whether anyone was on the property when it was last visited.

Evacuation Siren System

Our final evacuation notifications will be made by setting off the sirens. This is everyone's cue to get out immediately, as the sirens will only be set off when danger from the fire is imminent.

History

The Evacuation Siren System was installed in the early 2000s, the community having voted to fund purchase and upkeep of the system. Experiments were run to determine the best locations, and six sirens were installed throughout the community. They don’t provide complete coverage — with our terrain, it’s simply not possible for the sound of the sirens to reach everywhere — but it’s the best it can be under the circumstances, and the sirens can be heard in most locations in Crystal Lakes. Originally, siren control and maintenance was in the hands of Crystal Lakes Road & Recreation Association, with the fire department determining when they’d be set off, but in 2019, the fire department assumed direct responsibility for maintenance and operation of the sirens (Road & Recreation still owns them and funds their upkeep, as they’re a community asset). CLVFD runs silent tests on the sirens twice a month to ensure they’re working correctly and periodic audible tests (with lots of advance warning to the community) to remind the community what they sound like. (Links to the two siren alert sounds used in Crystal Lakes are available in the sidebar on the right of this page and below.

Use

The sirens will be sounded if it becomes necessary to evacuate all or part of the community due to fire or flood (which is to say, failure of the Panhandle Dam). They are our final notification method and their message is simple: get out now.

Notification Procedures

Some of our evacuation steps may look different if an agency other than CLVFD is tasked with handling evacuation for Crystal Lakes. When we’re evacuating and how urgently is affected by what’s going on, how far from our borders the fire is, and who the decision-maker is for the situation. So who will contact you, how, and some other details may change, but your job is and always will be to pack up and get out when evacuation is ordered.

Evacuation Orders

When it comes to evacuation orders, you can expect the following:

Voluntary Evacuation Notice

— The community is in danger and everyone who can leave should do so for their safety and the safety of others.
— Notification will be made via reverse 911. Make sure you’re signed up with NOCOAlert (www.nocoalert.org) to ensure you get these notifications!
 

Mandatory Evacuation Notice

— The community is under direct threat and everyone must leave as soon as possible.
— Notification will be made via reverse 911. Make sure you’re signed up with NOCOAlert (www.nocoalert.org) to ensure you get these notifications!

Sirens Sound the Fire Alert

— The community is in imminent danger (basically, the fire is inside Crystal Lakes, on the verge of entering the community, or threatening our evacuation route). Do not hesitate or delay, do not pack anything up. Load your family and pets in the car and get out immediately.
— If a mandatory evacuation notice hadn’t already been issued, it would be at this point via reverse 911.
— If mandatory evacuations were previously issued, there probably won’t be an additional notice, as everyone should already be out, so don’t rely on getting one if you’ve delayed your evacuation — the sirens may be your only warning. (Why would we set off the sirens after a mandatory evacuation order has been issued and everyone’s supposed to already be out of the community? To tell firefighters still in the area to pull out now.)

Alternate scenario — Sirens Sound the Flood Alert

— In this situation, only the people in the flood plain below Crystal Lake/Panhandle Dam should evacuate (and they should do so immediately, without pausing to pack). Everyone else should remain in place to leave the roads clear for people evacuating out of the floodplain.)
 

Note: In the above progression, there’s no guarantee that all three steps will happen. Depending on where the fire starts and how quickly it’s moving, voluntary evacuations can become mandatory ones in a matter of minutes or a jump straight to mandatory evacuation and/or the sirens might be necessary. If any level of evacuation is ordered, please leave as quickly as possible, for your safety and ours. If the sirens sound, get out immediately.