First-of-its-kind wildfire evacuation drill in Summit County shows how to be ready for fires as a high-risk season looms (Summit Daily News)
Nearly any long-term resident of Mesa Cortina remembers the day of the Buffalo Mountain fire — a 91-acre conflagration that threatened nearly 1,500 structures and triggered the evacuation of over 1,600 people. On Sunday morning, Bill and Dawn Darling found themselves reliving the experience from their Mesa Cortina home — this time for a drill designed to recreate the pressure of a wildfire evacuation in real time. “I think this will make a big difference,” Bill Darling said. “We really didn’t know what to do last time, and we want to be prepared this season.”