"If you'll give us 270 days, we'll give you something to brag about."

What a gorgeous day to visit the E&O building site! The sun is shining and warming the air to the mid-40s.  There is a lot of subcontractor activities in progress both inside and outside three of the buildings with an array of different company vehicles coloring the parking lot.

To describe the changes taking place a the site, I’ll begin at the southwest corner of the property. The Mechanic’s Shop is fully enclosed with aluminum siding and garage doors and the roof installation is in progress.   Inside the shop, technicians are working on the  HVAC system.  The Warehouse/Garage is enclosed on two sides (west and north) with the garage doors in place on the west side. This building is also in the roofing stage. The E&O building is being taped and readied for texturing the walls and ceilings. Inside there is a light show during the daytime with the intense sunlight streaming into darkened rooms without an artificial light source. On the north side of the E&O building, aluminum siding is stationed for attachment, while the south side is still encased with plastic helping the inside stay warm during the sunny hours.  The garage remains a skeleton and will be the last building to be completed. It will also be the quickest to complete once crews begin as there is no HVAC system installation planned for this building.

The completion date is now scheduled for mid-April.

The weather is still cooperating and the construction is progressing nicely.  The concrete work is nearly complete. The E & O building has outside walls, interior walls framed, and a rough-in of the utilities. All three of the remaining buildings have structural steel erected and some masonry work completed. The septic system is installed and the balance of the fencing is being installed. New trees line the southwestern border of the property.

Roatcap Fire started the morning of October 24, 2012, as seen from the Engineering and Operations site.

Roatcap Fire Heats up Celebration – Wednesday, October 24^th was a very windy day.  A special celebration was in progress around 11:30 a.m. at EEA’s Engineering and Operations site.  The Topping Out Party, sponsored by FCI Constructors, Incorporated, highlighted a new, more visible phase for the E & O building; the placement of supporting metal framework and roof structure.

During the luncheon of barbequed brats and burgers, a massive blanket of smoke was spotted to the east. The conversation shifted from the mundane to a discussion about the potential damages a fire could cause on a day with wind gusts up to 60 mph.

Member Services Manager Doug Sparks attended a briefing at 1:00 p.m.and discovered that the fire, now called the Roatcap Fire, started in the Simon Draw vicinity and was moving North and East through canyon areas.  As a result, one of EEA’s three phase distribution poles burst into flames. Crews were able to isolate a portion of the line and rebuild the burnt structure as soon as the fire crews put out the fire on the pole and surrounding area.

Several of Tri-State Generation and Transmission high voltage transmission lines endured the brunt of the initial advancement of the fire. That section was isolated and de-energized by Tri-State during the bulk of the day as the fire passed beneath it. The power outage affected approximately 45 residential consumers until the line was re-energized later in the evening.

Other than EEA’s distribution pole, no structures or lives were lost in the fire. Over a hundred firefighters from around the region fought the blaze.  Fighting the fire from overhead was not an option as planes could not be used in the excessively high winds; however, bulldozers were used to fight the blaze. The fire burned more than 400 acres and forced the evacuation of about 30 homes and threatened about 30 others.  The cause of the fire was a controlled trash burn that was neglected.  The responsible party was arrested and charged with fourth-degree arson, a felony. 

On October 26^th,GovernorJohnHickenlooper signed a disaster declaration for the Roatcap Fire. The executive order makes resources available to pay for related fire suppression, response, and recovery. Costs are estimated to be up to $250,000.

On October 24, 2012, the Roatcap Fire caused damage to one of Empire Electric’s three phase distribution poles. Crew replaced the pole as soon as they received the okay from fire crews.

Moving on up! 

There are many changes on site since my last visit. The most obvious is the addition of I-beams and structural hollow sections that form vertical frames and give the 9,300 ft² concrete slab some depth. These steel structures openly reach towards the sky as the future Engineering and Operations building passes into its next phase of development.

While walking past the E&O building and heading west more changes become apparent:  A new curb and gutter defines the driveway directly in front of the E & O building, the driveway is heaped with gravel awaiting dispersement and leveling, progress on other buildings reflect various phases of foundation work.

Moving past all the building structures there is a newly formed dam. Close to the middle of the dam a spillway marks the way to a fire retention pond just over the hill. This pond will provide water for the buildings’ fire sprinkler systems.

Thursday, September 13th, was a beautiful day to visit the building site.  The sun was shining through minimal clouds with no signs of wind or rain. Bustling workers seemed to be taking advantage of the perfect 80 degree temperature and moved their equipment quickly in all directions.

Since the last visit, work has progressed steadily. Foundation work and footing structures continue. Massive quantities of backfill still exist near both garage locations, however, there is a notable change at the maintenance shop location where footings can now be seen peaking out of the ground.

Most of the photos included in today’s blog were taken from on top of a high mound of dirt on the west side of the Engineering and Operations building.  From this miniature mountain you’ll see a complete 360 degree view of the site.

Note that the underground utilities are in place and the covered extensions in the E&O building (closest to the camera) stand ready for final connections. North of the E&O building, workers are leveling, watering, and placing a roadbase called Geogrid in the storage area.  This composition contains high tenacity multifilament polyester yarns that are woven into a stable network placed under tension. The yarns are then coated with a polymer coating making the material inert to biological degradation.  Geogrid is a preventive measure to keep gravel where it is intentionally placed by not allowing it to sink back into the ground.