For 40 years, W. Craig Fugate has worked in emergencies and disasters, from his early life as a firefighter and paramedic to his time as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from May 2009 to January 2017.

Fugate was in Steamboat Springs this week to wrap up this summer’s 21st year of free Seminars at Steamboat with “a very down, dark topic.” Still, he kept the audience interested with humorous stories mixed in the nonpartisan policy discussion “Disaster Preparation and Management in the Face of a Changing Climate.”

Fugate’s talk ranged from significant changes to the insurance industry through the years to the need for more people to buy flood insurance as climate change-fueled disasters grow. He also took time after the presentation to answer questions from a queue of seminar-goers and to speak about Colorado-centric issues with the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

While at FEMA, Fugate organized recovery efforts for 87 disasters in 2011. Before his time at FEMA, he worked as director of the Florida Emergency Management Division, where he coordinated the state’s response to hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004 and hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma in 2005.

Fugate said he learned as a paramedic that time is the most precious commodity in trauma, so he put into place faster response protocols at FEMA to try to stabilize catastrophic events within 72 hours. He asked FEMA teams to respond on scene as soon as the weather was safe to do so. He emphasized the “whole community” approach to emergency management by improving collaboration with all levels of government and partnering agencies, faith-based organizations, private sector and citizens.

He noted the worse disaster he witnessed was in Joplin, Missouri, the day after an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit in May 2011. He recalled the twisted steel frame of a hospital amid the destruction in a six-mile path.

As the frequency and severity of extreme weather events grow fueled by a warmer climate, Americans unfortunately still build more housing in hazard areas and bigger, fancier homes at higher price points, Fugate said.

“We conned ourself to think, ‘All is well, don’t panic, we’ve got time,'” Fugate said of climate change warnings through the years. “The climate is changing. It has already changed. Don’t believe we’ve got time. It’s getting worse faster than people thought it would.”

At the end of his narrative-style presentation walking back and forth across the Strings Music Pavilion stage, Fugate answered a question of which states are best prepared to manage disasters. He pointed to states that have ready encountered a higher frequency of disasters and then worked to make improvements such as in Florida, Louisiana and Connecticut.

Fugate named the two top disaster threats in Colorado, including wildfires destroying homes built in the wildland-urban interface without more strict building and fire safety codes. He said preparing for the future means states adopting building codes across the entire state.

“People hate red tape,” Fugate said. “They don’t like government intrusion. My response to that is, ‘that’s great, but don’t ask for help.’ But if you expect government to come in after a disaster and provide you financial assistance, then we need to really have a conversation about how we build and live in hazardous areas.”

The second key disaster risk in Colorado is flood risk.

“Outside of the urban interface it’s an additional cost, but if you can see or hear water, I’d buy flood insurance,” Fugate advised.

Fugate said a key factor to disaster preparedness is not building infrastructure based on the standards of previous years of relatively stable weather. He said future-proofing infrastructure and construction may cost more initially but is less expensive than post-damage costs from extreme rainfall, fires and other disasters.

He said future-proofing means everything from simple measures such as conducting more maintenance on culvert systems to stronger stormwater management plans.

“We have got to quit building stuff the way it was before the disaster,” Fugate said. “Whatever your standards have been, they’re not good enough. We’re seeing too many extreme rainfall events. Anytime I’m putting in a culvert, road, rebuilding, repairing, I would start thinking about am I putting it back the way it was? Or am I improving it for the future?”

Fugate emphasized Colorado residents need to take advantage of online and other resources to learn steps to make homes and landscaping more resistant to wildfire starts from blowing embers.

“There’s a lot you can do,” Fugate said. “What you cannot do is wait until the day of the wildfire. Make your home more fire resistant and always evacuate because you don’t have time to second-guess or wait.”