RIFLE — The next big thing in firefighting might come out of Rifle.
The Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting takes up residence at the Rifle Garfield County Airport this summer. Researchers at the center plan to be hard at work as soon as August, with a goal to have something developed at the center implemented statewide by the 2017 fire season.
“Initially, we see ourselves taking a lot of the information that already exists out there,” Center of Excellence interim director Melissa Lineberger explained last week.
“Academics are doing great research, but they’re not getting it into the hands of firefighters. What we want to do is sort of be that mediator.”
She said center organizers with the state Division of Fire Prevention and Control expect to complete a job description for the director soon, followed by a “rigorous” selection process that could take two or three months.
After that, they can began hiring the remaining eight full-time staff members, who will occupy an existing building that is being vacated by Garfield County.
“We’ve worked with actual firefighters to hear what they think we should be researching,” she said.
Winning the opportunity to be home to the center was a coup for Rifle, which beat out bigger Front Range cities, including Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.
“Colorado is leading the country in the way we’re going to employ technology to fight wildfire,” said Dave Toelle, regional fire manager for the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control, the state’s main wildfire oversight agency. He characterized the proposed center as “one of a kind.”
“We’re going to take the research that’s been done and actually apply it,” he said.
