Hotchkiss Fire District

11/09/2026

Heads up - Road Closure on Highway 65 on Grand Mesa

Travel Advisory | Highway 65 Closure - Tuesday, November 10
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has advised that Highway 65 will be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, beginning at 9:00 a.m. between mile marker 32.5 and 34 in Mesa County.

The closure is necessary for crews to recover a vehicle that went off the roadway on October 28.

CDOT anticipates the recovery could take up to eight hours, potentially longer depending on weather and recovery conditions.

If you plan to travel between Delta and Mesa Counties via Highway 65, please plan accordingly, and use an alternate route.

Travel Advisory | Highway 65 Closure - Tuesday, November 10

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has advised that Highway 65 will be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, beginning at 9:00 a.m. between mile marker 32.5 and 34 in Mesa County.

The closure is necessary for crews to recover a vehicle that went off the roadway on October 28.

CDOT anticipates the recovery could take up to eight hours, potentially longer depending on weather and recovery conditions.

If you plan to travel between Delta and Mesa Counties via Highway 65, please plan accordingly, and use an alternate route.

For the latest closure information and updates, visit https://www.cotrip.org/?.

Map courtesy of CDOT

11/04/2026

The results are in, and Hotchkiss Fire District voters have made their voices heard! Today, our future begins. Hotchkiss area residents have shown that they value exceptional fire protection, suppression, and rescue services, and we plan to deliver on that expectation.

We now have confidence that we can continue providing the same or better level of service, ensuring our volunteers are well-equipped with the modern tools and protective equipment they need to get the job safely and efficiently. We will continue to inspire our community with our effort, professionalism, and skill - and show that local citizens can pull together and protect our neighbors. We'll be able to hold our own (without asking for outside help), maintain and improve the stations, buy or build trucks when needed, and generally keep up across the board. We will be able to develop into the organization we all expect and want, one that delivers top notch service, trains and develops our people, and provide a path for driven individuals to follow in our foot steps.

Thank you for your support. It is truly humbling. Its an honor to know that while we've got your back, you've got ours, as well.

11/02/2026

Today our valley's namesake river is making history again. The North Fork of the Gunnison has hit its highest flow in over two years, and highest ever recorded for the month of November. This river normally sees high water in June, when melting snow rushes off surrounding mountain peaks. By autumn, the North Fork is ankle deep, gently trickling to its confluence with the Gunnison. Not this year.

The town of Hotchkiss was forecasted to receive over an inch of rain yesterday. This is significant in a place that generally receives 9-12 inches of precipitation a year. By Sunday evening, the deluge caused the river to rise at a rate of 100 CFS per hour. Peak flows hit the river's mouth, near Lazear, early this morning. In 93 years of recorded history, we have never seen an event like this.

Fortunately, this is not enough water for the river to seriously breach its banks. The North Fork is used to handling flows like this...IN JUNE. To put it in perspective, 1,500 CFS is the high water mark for an average year here in the North Fork Valley. However, average flows this time of year are 81 CFS. Today's previous high water record was 361 CFS.

To any boaters looking to take advantage of these historic flows: look out for new channels and debris. We have not been out yet so we don't have current conditions to report. Feel free to add river photos and conditions report to this post if you get out there. Stay safe!

11/01/2026

BOO!
HFD Firefighters invited Sparky the Fire Dog ( and a banana) to the Annual Trunk or Treat at the Hotchkiss Elks. We had a blast!

10/23/2026

HFD's Firefighter of the Month for October is Jeffrey Rodarte, who received a plaque from Board President Dan Miller today. Jeffrey has been with us since 2021, and has led the department in call response for the past several years. He's one of our best engineers, super reliable, and always ready to lend a hand.

Jeffrey works as an Administrative Assistant for the Town of Hotchkiss Police Dept. He lives in Hotchkiss with his wife Ashley and daughters Victoria and Genevieve.

HFD would also like to recognize Hotchkiss PD Chief Green and the Town for allowing Jeffrey to clock out and participate as a volunteer firefighter when the pager goes off.

Congrats on being the very first HFD Firefighter of the Month, Jeffrey!!

10/21/2026

Thank you to Best Slope Pizza for fueling our firefighters before Monday night's training with your take and bake pepperoni pizzas! They were delicious!

Our firefighters practiced tying into a hydrant and deploying the attack lines, and then practiced reversing the system by building an attack line with a hose pack and pulling the reverse lay to then drive the engine to a hydrant. We don't use this system often, it's usually needed only when trucks need to be repositioned at the scene or in instances where the water source we thought we had turns out to not work.

For those of you who have never tried Best Slope Pizza, check them out. They have two more pop ups before taking a break for November. Visit their page for more information!

10/21/2026

We're strong!