Colorado State Forest Service

Wildfire Protection and Management     

Colorado law identifies the sheriff as the fire warden for the county and the individual ultimately responsible for controlling and extinguishing prairie and forest fires on private & state lands within that county. (CRS 30-10-513) The state forestry role is to aid and assist the sheriff and county fire departments with this responsibility. The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) fulfills this role by providing training, equipment, technical assistance, and funding; and facilitating interagency mutual aid agreements and annual operating plans.

Wildfire Hazard Evaluation and Mitigation

Many rural Colorado homeowners seek secluded, sheltered homesites. Many do not realize services such as fire protection, often taken for granted in the city, are not readily available at their mountain retreat. The photo above left, shows a typical "secluded" mountain hideaway. The photo on the right illustrates a "Defensible Space" created by the homeowner. Creating a Defensible Space around your home involves thinning vegetation adjacent to the structure. This allows firefighters the opportunity to protect your home.

Note the intensity of the approaching flame front in relation to the helicopter located in the center of the photo above. Also note the continuous vegetation leading to the building. Ground based firefighters had no opportunity to defend this structure.

Wildfire Hazard Area Mapping - The Gunnison District can identify and map wildfire hazard areas for county planning departments. ARC/INFO software is used in preparing Geographic Information System (GIS) data. We assist a county at the desired level, whether the job is the complete process of photo-typing, ground-truthing, and digitizing the data into the GIS, or just the interpretation of the aerial photography and identification of wildfire hazard areas.

House Bill 1041 - Wildfire Hazard Reviews: CSFS is the designated state agency by H.B. 1041, to review (upon county request) the Wildfire Hazard "state area of concern." (CRS 24-65.1-202) We utilize state and national (NFPA 299) standards for these evaluations.

Prescribed fire - Fire can be an efficient tool to accomplish many landowner objectives, including wildlife habitat, range improvement, forest management, or wildfire hazard reduction. Landowners often request CSFS to assist in the implementation of an applied prescribed burn that fulfills these land use objectives.

Mitigation - Active wildfire hazard mitigation by CSFS includes identifying needed mitigation on-the-ground, funding mitigation programs through cost-share grants, and disseminating information through publications. 3 CSFS mountain home fire safety information sheets are also available for download. Adobe Acrobat Reader (available from Adobe for free) is required to read PDF-format files.

Post-fire Rehabilitation - CSFS assists affected landowners with wildfire rehabilitation plans following wildfire events. These plans outline structural erosion control measures and suggest needed re-vegetation to assist the land healing process. Many rehabilitation plans are implemented with cost-share assistance.

Wildfire Training

Wildfire Academy - This CSFS-sponsored academy has become the place for Colorado (and now national and international!) wildfire agencies to receive nationally- qualifying (NWCG) wildfire training. Next year, the Academy will offer over 20 courses and will be held in Salida during the first week of June 2000.

National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) wildfire courses National Rocky Mountain Area

CSFS Gunnison District wildfire training - Contact us, if we can customize wildfire training for county wildfire response personnel to meet your needs. Task Books list on-the-job training requirements for specific wildland firefighting positions.  Those requiring a task book, can download by clicking here.

Agreements and major wildfire assistance through CSFS

Mutual Aid Agreements & Annual Operating Plans - Each year, federal land fire agencies, state forestry, and counties meet to reach agreement on the sharing of firefighters and equipment if wildfires exceed a particular jurisdiction's resources. The intent of mutual aid is for all fire suppression agencies to work as a team, avoid duplication, and suppress wildfires efficiently. The Annual Operating Plan defines the limits of interagency cooperation, and contains a mobilization plan that identifies the location and availability of firefighters and equipment.

Emergency Fire Fund (EFF) - This fund, established in 1967, assists the payment of expenses when catastrophic wildfires exceed a participating county's resources. 35 Colorado counties (including those within the Gunnison District) contribute to EFF. A county's annual assessment for EFF is calculated using a formula based on the acreage of private watershed and the annual property tax valuation. Counties with large amounts of private watershed land and a high assessed valuation pay more into the fund than rural counties with large acreage of federal lands and low assessed valuation. Emergency funding requests must originate from the county sheriff and State Forester approval is required. The fund has paid for nearly 3 million dollars of suppression costs since its inception.

Federal & State Funding Assistance -
Courtesy of Oregon Department of Forestry; photo by Dan Thorpe
 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursed the EFF over $680,000 for certain qualifying EFF fires since 1978. EFF participation is the link to FEMA funding. An unprecedented 10 EFF qualifying fires bankrupted the fund in 1994, and Colorado state funding was made available.

Initial Air Attack Agreement - This CSFS fund cost-shares (50%) with EFF counties (limited to $5,000/county/year) for suppression aircraft. The goal is reduced suppression cost by attacking fires quickly to keep them small.

Wildfire Suppression Equipment

Engines - CSFS has 150 military-surplus wildfire engines located throughout the state under the Clarke-McNary (CM-2) program; 3 of these are assigned to volunteer fire departments on the Gunnison District. Our Fort Collins shop builds these engines and provides all major maintenance. These all wheel drive (4x4 and 6x6) engines are equipped with pumps, 200 or 1000 gallon tanks, hose reels, equipment boxes, and loaned out ready-to-go. The cooperator is responsible for minor maintenance and provides small equipment like hose, nozzles, and hand tools.

These engines are continually updated with improved technology like foam injection systems. Newer models use compressed air foam systems (CAFS) which make the water 10 times more effective. State engines, with their fire department crew, are often components of the CSFS-sponsored engine teams used to combat large federal fires throughout the west.

Our shop fabricates a limited number of custom wildfire engines for those departments unable to obtain this service elsewhere.

Single-Engine Air Tanker (SE/AT) - During the past 4 fire seasons, CSFS has contracted for SE/AT availability for counties and federal fire-fighting agencies. In 1996, the SE/AT flew 37 missions and delivered 50,025 gallons of water, foam, and retardant. This crop duster-like aircraft is prepositioned around the state in response to high fire danger and unavailability of other suppression aircraft. The SE/AT aircraft perform an important niche of dropping more water than a helicopter, with greater accuracy than a large air tanker, and less cost than either. Recent SE/AT activity.

Fire Equipment - CSFS is the connection for county fire agencies to "GSA" wildfire equipment. Federal fire agencies buy their equipment at great savings through GSA. CSFS provides this service for our local fire agencies, using an electronic mail order system. Fire departments also save on Class A foam which is bulk-ordered by CSFS. Local fire agencies may contact Brian at the Gunnison District office to place a GSA order.

Brian's favorite Fire links:

National Daily Fire Situation Report
Fire Weather Forecast (Denver)
Wildland Fire Assessment System
Boise NWSFO Fire Weather (national)
Fire Effects Information System
The Building and Fire Research Laboratory
Riverside Fire Lab
FireNet
National Interagency Fire Center
National Fire Protection Association
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Firewise
Protecting Residences from Wildfires
Mountain Home Fire Safety information sheets
Boulder County WHIMS
FireSafe

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CSFS Headquarters - Fire

CSFS Headquarters

Gunnison District Contact Information
This page maintained by Brian Ayers
Colorado State Forest Service, P.O. Box 1390, Gunnison, CO 81230 USA (970) 641-6852
Updated October 08, 1999