January 18, 2023 |
The Carbon County emergency management coordinator wants to place flood monitoring beacons on a fire scarred section of the state.
Beginning in September of 2020, the Mullen Fire destroyed nearly 177,000 acres of Carbon and Albany County. With the fire wiping out so much of the region’s plant life, Emergency Management Coordinator Lenny Layman said the soil is now susceptible to erosion and flooding.
Pictured above: A 2020 photo of power line in Mullen Fire burn area. Photo courtesy Carbon Power & Light/Facebook.
To better predict flash floods, Layman proposed placing a series of ground-based monitors in the Mullen burn scar. At the January 3rd Carbon County commissioners meeting, Layman asked the board to approve a grant request allowing him to purchase the flood beacons. The emergency management coordinator said without the monitors in place weather forecasters are unable to determine how much moisture has actually collected in the burn scar.
Layman also said the flood gauges will allow climatologists to increase the accuracy of their prediction models.
The Carbon County commissioners questioned Layman about how much the monitors would cost to run and maintain. Layman said the grant would cover the first year of operation. The commissioners wanted to know what the annual fee would be. The emergency management coordinator said he doesn’t have the exact numbers.
Layman said he wanted to apply for a $50,000 grant to purchase the monitoring equipment. The county would be responsible for matching 10 percent of the grant total. Instead of asking the commissioners to cover $5,000, Layman said the office of emergency management would use an “in-kind match.” Volunteers would set up and monitor the flood beacons, but the emergency management coordinator would deduct the amount he would have paid the workers from the grant match. Layman describes how his plan would work.
County commissioners wanted to know exactly how it would cost to run the monitors once they were installed in the field. Layman wasn’t able to give them an amount, but said he was looking into money-saving options, such as turning the monitors off when they aren’t needed.
With the Mullen Fire so recent in everyone’s mind, Layman said it is the best time to procure and install beacons in the burn scar. The emergency management coordinator said, having the flood monitors installed now would help with data collection during future disasters.
The board of commissioners approved Layman’s request to apply for the $50,000 grant with the stipulation that Layman partner with the University of Wyoming and others to pay for the continued operation of the monitors.
