Colorado
Colorado to use night-vision helicopters to fight wildfires
LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — With a busy fireplace season already underway, Colorado firefighters are getting ready so as to add one other merchandise to their toolbox: night-vision-equipped helicopters.
Vince Welbaum is the state’s Aviation Unit chief and confirmed these particulars on Tuesday. Welbaum stated two state-owned helicopters at the moment are outfitted with night-vision goggles — a expertise referred to as NVG — and the state’s new FireHawk helicopter arriving later this 12 months shall be outfitted as effectively.
“We’ve been coaching to fly at night time with our one helicopter for the final three years, and now we each have them arrange with NVG,” Welbaum stated. “We’re hoping we are able to transfer ahead with that on the helicopter facet this 12 months.”
It comes lower than a 12 months after an air tanker pilot was killed preventing a wildfire at night time outdoors of Estes Park. That firm, CO Fireplace Aviation, was on a first-of-its-kind mission preventing fires at night time in Colorado with a fixed-wing plane.
These operations have since been halted statewide.
“We’re not happening that path, with the fixed-wing, simply but,” Welbuam stated.
Welbaum stated helicopters supply extra management, however he careworn they may solely be used when situations are proper for security.
“If it’s simply on the market on a forest that’s simply going to burn bushes, there’s no want so as to add that extra threat for flying at night time,” he stated.
The Colorado Division of Fireplace Prevention and Management stated night time operations will solely happen in sure conditions the place properties are threatened or if persons are in peril.
Officers say they used night-vision firefighting with a helicopter on one fireplace in 2021 and had success.
“It’s actually sort of a novel state of affairs for night time flying,” Welbaum stated. “It’s acquired to be the best situations.”
Colorado
'Thanksfest' giving back more than a meal to Colorado Springs families in need
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – This weekend was Thankfest, an event started by Vaughn Littrell, to give back to families in need. This year 250 families got all the ingredients they needed for Thanksgiving and more.
The families were chosen ahead of time through the CPCD Head Start Program. They help serve our community’s most vulnerable children and families.
The giveaway was a chance for families to come down and do some shopping for free. It was more than just getting food, families also received all the kitchen tools they would need to cook too.
It wasn’t just food either. Clothes and shoes were also available for those who needed them.
“Some of our families are in really, really bad situations. They need they need help. You know, and it’s this is a this is a tangible way that we can do something. We can’t do everything, but you can do something. We’re excited to be able to bless these families,” Vaughn Littrell told KRDO13.
Vaughn says he started the giveaway with just a few families. He says he knows what it is like to struggle, and wants the giveaway to keep growing so he can help more people.
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Colorado
I-70 closed near Vail, Silverthorne for safety concerns, weather hazards
Interstate 70 closed near Vail and Silverthorne on Sunday for “safety concerns” as snow battered the Colorado mountains, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The eastbound interstate was closed between Exit 180 for East Vail and Exit 190 for Vail Pass Summit, about 1 mile west of Copper Mountain, as of 6 p.m. Sunday, CDOT officials said.
CDOT cameras in the area of the closure showed snow-covered roads and white-out conditions.
Westbound I-70 was also closed at 6 p.m. Sunday between Exit 216 for U.S. 6 near Loveland Pass and Exit 205 for Colorado 9 near Silverthorne, according to CDOT.
Multiple Waze users reported “weather hazards” in both closed sections of I-70.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Colorado
Shedeur Sanders shoves referee, ‘lucky’ to avoid ejection as frustrations boil over in Colorado loss
There was certainly a scenario Saturday night where Colorado would’ve needed to navigate the final 20 minutes of its upset loss to Kansas without star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, the son of Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders and a projected top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, shoved referee Kevin Mar after taking a sack on third down with Colorado trailing by nine in the third quarter, and he was “lucky” that didn’t result in an ejection, Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira said on the broadcast.
“There’s no question that he does,” Pereira said when asked about Sanders shoving Mar. “Look, I get why he’s upset because people are almost climbing over him after he was down, but, you know, the officials can use their hands all they want to try to keep order. But you cannot come back as a player and push an official.
“In the chaos, the officials don’t see it, but he’s lucky that he wasn’t ejected from the game.”
After the sack, Sanders approached Mar from behind — who was surrounded by a cluster of players — and shoved the longtime official with his right arm.
By that point, three other referees had moved closer to the scuffle and attempted to separate the players and Sanders while protecting Mar.
Sanders, who finished 23 of 29 for 266 yards and three touchdowns during No. 16 Colorado’s 37-21 loss, wasn’t penalized on the play, but his frustrations had started to boil over.
The game featured plenty of physical hits, with Colorado’s College Football Playoff hopes at stake and Kansas attempting to claw its way toward becoming bowl eligible.
At one point in the first half, defensive end Dean Miller lowered his head and flung himself toward Sanders’ knees while he attempted a pass.
“I mean, I just don’t know how that’s legal overall,” Sanders told reporters after the game when asked about Miller’s hit. “I ain’t understand that, but, you know, it is what it is. There was a couple plays like that.”
The Buffaloes trailed 17-0 at one point but managed to trim its deficit to two points early in the third quarter, when Travis Hunter — also projected as a top pick in the upcoming NFL draft — and Sanders connected on a touchdown pass.
But Devin Neal accounted for the final two touchdowns, providing the Jayhawks with some cushion and ensuring Colorado was on its way to ending the night in a four-way tie atop the Big 12 standings.
Deion said after the game that Colorado had become “intoxicated with the success.”
“We started smelling ourselves a little bit,” Deion said, according to ESPN. “… We got intoxicated with the multitude of articles and the assumption that we’re this and the assumption that we’re that. And we did not play CU football. Therefore, we got our butts kicked. It is what it is.”
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