ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Serena Alvarado has a personal connection to Ouray County.

"My husband and I got married at Ridgeway State Park 11 years ago," Alvarado said.

That connection made her recent deployment there even more meaningful.

The Arapahoe County Public Health employee spent several weeks deployed on the Gold Mountain Fire in southwest Colorado in July, supporting liaison officers behind the scenes.

"It was really meaningful," Alvarado said.

The Gold Mountain Fire has burned more than 39,000 acres since starting on June 27 and is now 87 percent contained.

"It had been almost 50 years since the last time that this community had ever experienced a fire," Alvarado said.

Alvarado worked 16-hour days for two weeks, acting as a go-between for different crews and agencies.

"There's a lot of people who are responsible for responding to a fire. As big as the Gold Mountain Fire had become, it became very complicated," Alvarado said.

Her role centered on gathering and distributing critical information as quickly as possible — from evacuation orders to containment numbers.

"I was going to a lot of different meetings and making sure that I was capturing as much information as necessary to be able to do my job effectively, providing information to the right people," Alvarado said.

Now back home, she is passing along what she learned to her colleagues in Arapahoe County.

"It was incredible to be able to learn from those folks and to be a neighbor in Arapahoe County, responding to our neighbors across the state," Alvarado said.

Alvarado is one of 3 Arapahoe County employees who have responded to natural disasters this year.

"I like to say that Colorado is just one big small town, and that we're all neighbors," Alvarado said. "To be able to go back to a place that's so special has a special place in my heart was just really meaningful."

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