CCCS Internal 
Anyone who has worked on a college campus is familiar with the whirlwind that comes with the start of a new school year. With students and parents arriving, orientation sessions to schedule, new course schedules and last minute course changes, and the general flurry of starting a new academic cycle—it’s a busy, exciting, and often stressful time.
Now imagine layering a natural disaster on top of that.
The Lee fire near Meeker in Rio Blanco county was sparked by lightning on August 2nd and grew to over 100,000 acres by August 10th, soon to become the 5th largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. With classes at Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) scheduled to begin on Monday, August 18, and students set to begin arriving several days prior to that date, the usual back-to-school whirlwind was quickly overshadowed by more urgent issues and concerns. Even without the fire directly threatening the campus, CNCC had to contend with smoke, closed roads, evacuations, and of course the potential for the fire growing.
Emergency planning and crisis management kicked in. Cory Stark, Director of Emergency Management for CCCS, also sits on the state’s Recovery Taskforce under the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM)—a collaborative effort between state agencies to ensure a coordinated approach to disaster recovery. Having worked for DHSEM previously, Stark leveraged his experience and relationships to ensure that CNCC was well represented in discussions and plans for managing the fire impacts.
Stark explains that even before the fire, “I wanted to be sure that higher education is always represented in disaster management, because of their important role in the community. I sought to stay connected.” Those connections served him and the college well, with Stark helping to bring awareness and paint a full picture of the potential impacts of the fire to the college and the surrounding community.
I wanted to be sure that higher education is always represented in disaster management, because of their important role in the community. I sought to stay connected.
And then on Saturday, August 9, CNCC’s phone lines and network connections went dead. Firefighters seeking to create a fire break had accidentally cut a fiber optics cable running along Highway 13 between Meeker and Rangely. A week before the start of the semester, students who were trying to register, pay their tuition, and confirm their enrollment were unable to reach the campus, and CNCC faculty and staff found themselves cut off from rest of the CCCS network.
When the optics cable was cut, Katherine Stevenson, CCCS Chief Technology Officer, dropped everything and headed to Rangely, stopping at Home Depot on the way to purchase a satellite dish in the hopes of creating a work-around to restore at least minimal communications capabilities for CNCC. “My goal was to get the bare basics up and running,” Stevenson says. She worked with campus staff at Rangely to reroute critical phone numbers to the Craig campus so that students and others could at least get priority questions answered and used the county’s internet to restore some connectivity, thus allowing preparations for the start of the semester to go on.
Meanwhile, CNCC president Lisa Jones was grappling with broader implications. When news of a fire first broke, Dr. Jones was unsure of the scope and potential impacts. “I was concerned we would not be able to start our semester. And there are only so many hours and days you can make up.” But within days, when she heard about people potentially losing their homes and livelihoods, it was no longer just the schedule that was causing Dr. Jones concern. “We have students and employees who live in Meeker. I knew they would be affected. We had to do whatever we could to help.”
CNCC immediately pitched in, offering campus facilities as housing or staging locations for individuals being evacuated due to the fire, offering meals, and in other ways showing that CNCC and the community are one. “We offered what we could,” says Dr. Jones. “It’s what we do here – support one another.”
What quickly became clear to Dr. Jones and her colleagues was that in times of crisis, plans alone aren’t enough, what matters is the strength of the relationships—the trust between campus departments, the connection with local emergency services, and the shared commitment to supporting the community. CNCC staff and faculty didn’t miss a beat. Dr. Jones credits the quick response from Cory Stark, Katherine Stevenson, and others at CCCS with enabling CNCC to offer help to others because they themselves had support. “I felt comfortable that we were not alone—we had a system supporting us.”
And with the system’s support, classes started on time at CNCC.
With the fall semester now fully underway and the fire out—if not forgotten—all those in charge of emergency planning and crisis management can look back at lessons learned. No two crises are the same, and every disaster is an opportunity to learn. For CCCS and CNCC, some lessons are clear. Even though full communications service was restored by August 13, only four days after the line was cut, Stevenson and her colleagues are revisiting how the system provides services to campuses across the state, in particular those in the rural areas, and how to make them more resilient.
Of course what any crisis situation shows is that plans can only take you so far. Stevenson notes that CCCS has a robust planning process, and in this situation, “we executed the plan and improvised as needed.” She was reminded of Dwight Eisenhower’s often-repeated comment that “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Cory Stark is convinced now more than ever that maintaining strong relationships—including with the community, with emergency responders at all levels, and among the CCCS community—can make the difference in effectively managing a crisis. “In crisis management, it takes a team. I hope we’ll always harness that whenever we encounter something else down the road.” He credits leaders at both CNCC and at CCCS for recognizing the problem and seeking support, resources and guidance. “I always say, if we do anything right, it’s that we’re always willing to put the right resources in the right place for the right reason for the right time.”
The collaboration between the College, the System, and our local partners allowed us to meet the educational, professional, and personal needs of everyone affected
And President Jones has an even greater appreciation for what “community” means among Colorado’s community colleges. She points to the quick response by Cory Stark, Katherine Stevenson, and the whole CCCS team in supporting CNCC and enabling the college to start the semester on time.
“When a crisis strikes, it’s natural to question whether you have the tools to navigate it and return to normal operations,” says Jones. “That’s when the strength of our CCCS community truly shone. The collaboration between the College, the System, and our local partners allowed us to meet the educational, professional, and personal needs of everyone affected.”
She reflects further, “Knowing we could rely on that support left me both profoundly humbled and deeply proud—humbled by the collective generosity of spirit, and proud of the remarkable talent and dedication across our campus and the entire system.”
