Overview
- Local first responders report a recent surge of rescues at sealed Cold War missile silos and say the incidents add to a pattern of five rescues over two years.
- Crews describe the silos as deep vertical shafts with darkness, standing water and possible gas exposure that block radios and make rope rescues hazardous.
- Sable Altura Fire Rescue will begin charging $5,000 for each person they must extract from a silo to recoup costs and discourage risky trespassing, and deputies have issued criminal trespass citations.
- Property owners, including a City of Denver-managed site overseen by WM, say the locations are private, closed to the public, and already secured with locks, concrete slabs and fencing.
- Officials warn that continued entries strain small volunteer departments, increase danger to rescuers, and could lead to deaths or recoveries if people do not stop entering the silos.