How X Games Aspen saved it secure this previous weekend at Buttermilk

With a day by day venue capability of 10,000 individuals and 13 million individuals watching on-line, X Games Aspen noticed an assemblage of almost 20 native, state, and federal companies to offer assets to the occasion in case of an emergency. 

The Pitkin County Incident Management Team was stationed all weekend to assist X Games and Aspen Skiing Company, in a position to deal with something from minor incidents to the worst-case state of affairs, like a capturing or bombing.

“Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in today, we do have to plan for the worst,” stated the county’s Deputy Chief of Operations, Parker Lathrop, who is without doubt one of the coordinators of the incident administration group.

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Lathrop stated the aim of the group, which had 60 to 70 individuals prepared to reply beneath its authority at any given level throughout the occasion, was to cope with incidents as minor as overly-intoxicated people or fights, to these qualifying as main public security occasions.

The group had contingency plans for every public security state of affairs that X Games may have encountered. 

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For an overly-intoxicated particular person, occasion safety would escort the individual out of the gang in the event that they’re cooperative, which Lathrop stated they’re more often than not. He stated the incident administration group would possibly then take the person to a detox facility on website and assist get them a sober journey, or, in the event that they’re a candidate, take them to the county detox facility close to Aspen Valley Hospital. 

“Or, if they’re too intoxicated, they may end up in the hospital,” Lathrop stated. “So, we’re trying to connect the needs of the person to the right resource.”

In the case of a struggle, which Lathrop stated hadn’t occurred in a while, the incident administration group would possibly become involved as bodily altercations have a tendency to begin crossing “that legal line.”

“It may involve people getting arrested,” he stated. “It may involve them being cited.”

Should the worst-case state of affairs strike, the primary precedence of the incident administration group is to cease the risk.

“Our job is to go out there and our job is to stop that threat as quickly as possible,” Lathrop stated. “Second, once the threat is stopped — to supply aid to those who are injured.”

Once the group is ready to stabilize the incident, it could work with completely different companions, just like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to analyze the incident, Lathrop stated. 

“But first and foremost, we’re here for public safety,” Lathrop stated. “That’s our goal and that’s our primary function. Everything else comes after that.”

Along with Lathrop, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Alex Burchetta and Aspen Police Department’s Mike Tracey have been the group’s coordinators. Pitkin County Emergency Manager Chris Breitbach additionally helped handle the group.

Aspen Ambulance Chief Gabe Muething served because the incident administration group’s operation part chief.

“One of the things that you’re witnessing here is not common,” Muething stated throughout a pre-X Games assembly on the Mountain Rescue Aspen places of work within the Aspen Airport Business Center. “The partnerships in this group, if you notice this team … you see all of these different agencies working well together — police, fire, EMS, road and bridge, you name it. It’s not common for teams to be that way.”

On the nationwide degree, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which introduced Explosive Detection Dogs, supplied assets. The St. George, Louisiana Fire Protection District supplied further assets, having first developed a working relationship with a Pitkin County Incident Management Team member throughout Hurricane Helene in 2024.

The Colorado State Patrol, Colorado National Guard, Colorado Department of Public Safety, Colorado Department of Revenue Liquor Enforcement Division, Routt County public security, and the Colorado Information Analysis Center, which monitored social media and on-line threats, have been additionally current.

Local assets included regulation enforcement and different assets from Pitkin County, Aspen, and Snowmass, in addition to assets from X Games, Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen Ambulance, Aspen Fire Protection District, Basalt Police Department, Grand Junction Bomb Squad, and the Aurora Police Department, which additionally introduced an Explosive Detection Dog. 

“It’s not common for teams to be that way,” Muething stated of the native collaboration. “We really have an amazing partnership in our community to be able to do that and feel like we can deal with just about any incident because of that.”

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale might be reached at 970-429-9152 or e mail him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.