For second time this summer, rattlesnakes give firefighters fits as they battle wildfires in Colorado

By Jesse Sarles

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    Colorado (KCNC) — Another wildfire is burning in the foothills of Jefferson County in Colorado, and once again the wildland firefighters who are responding are having to face an extra danger as they trudge across hillsides and mountainsides: rattlesnakes.

The sheriff’s office says the poisonous snakes have been spotted by crews in the battles against both the Quarry Fire and this week’s new Goltra Fire. So far there have been no reports of any snake bites during either of the firefights.

“They are simply aware of rattlesnakes and, therefore, prepared for it,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jacki Kelley wrote on Wednesday in an email to CBS Colorado. “This has not changed the way that fire operations are being handled; it’s just an added (a very real!) hazard.”

The Quarry Fire, which is now 100% contained, burned nearly 600 acres on mostly rough, steep terrain. In the first days of that fire that started on the last day of July, Mark Techmeyer, another Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said firefighter safety was a key concern.

“This is really hard territory for our firefighters. It’s very steep,” he said. “And also, we have a rattlesnake problem to deal with. There’s even an area in there called Rattlesnake Gulch (because) they’re so prevalent in the area.”

This week’s Goltra Fire poses similar challenges for firefighters.

“Once again, another fire in Jeffco,” Kelley said in a news conference on Wednesday morning about the Goltra Fire, which has burned about 200 acres. “Very challenging terrain, you can see that it is incredibly steep, and the fire guys that were on the scene last night said that every step is rocky. Every step is unsteady. It’s very, very vertical, and once again we’re dealing with a lot of rattlesnake activity in that area.”

Rattlesnakes can be found all across Colorado, and they tend to make their dens in areas with good hiding places and shelter.

Earlier this year Open Space Ranger Mary Ann Bonnell said there’s what she likes to refer to as “a rattlesnake belt” across western sections of Jefferson County.

“I think of it where we have a combination of rocky cover and food, so you think about the front foothills, the hogbacks, the basalt caps, of the mesas — those are all great places to be a rattlesnake,” she said.

On average Bonnell says there are only one or two cases of human rattlesnake bites in Jefferson County per year.

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