Wildfire Commission

The Wildfire Commission meets quarterly on the first Thursday in February, May, August and November.

Resources:

• Wildfire Mitigation Work Session Video (YouTube) and Wildfire Mitigation Presentation (PDF) (May 2019)
• Wildfire Risk Reduction Task Force Recommendations (PDF) (November 2020)
• Wildfire Safe Program (PDF)
• Jefferson County Working to Reduce Wildfire Risk (July 2022 op-ed)

The Task Force recommendations presented to the Board of County Commissioners on November 11, 2020 were broken down in three main areas. Below highlights recommendations in each area of focus as well as a progress report to-date.

Mitigation: Opportunities, Gaps & Recommendations

1. Create a county-wide clearinghouse for past, present and future mitigation efforts drawing on Geographic Information Systems data – or mapping – to build collective knowledge, prioritize mitigation efforts and enhance collaboration.
2. Advocate at the county, state and federal level for increased pace, scale and funding of mitigation on public and private land in Jefferson County.
3. Address bottleneck surrounding biomass utilization and forest industry shortages. This may be done under a current or additional subgroup.
4. Encourage the county to more proactively promote and collaborate with fire protection districts implementing defensible space home assessment certification programs to grow these programs county-wide and to allow certification program to satisfy defensible space requirements.
5. Strengthen county regulations and enforcement on defensible space that build upon efforts over the last two years by Jefferson County Planning and Zoning.
   1. Require Defensible Space review for Building Permits for any new structure, the replacement of an existing structure, or the addition to a structure for properties located within the Wildfire Hazard Overlay District.
   2. Add language requiring Fire Protection Proof at the time of Building Permit, expanding the types of Building Permits that would require Defensible Space.

Mitigation Progress Report (a/o August 2022)

• Discussions are taking place with area fire chiefs regarding requiring certification of defensible space every three years.
• Staff will bring forward, in the next two months, to the Board of County Commissioners:
  • Renaming the county's Wildfire Overlay District to Wildland Urban Interface and expand the boundary so that WUI areas below 6400 ft. have expanded requirements for wildfire prevention.
  • Adopt access standards for driveways, private roads and unimproved roads in public ROW that will accommodate fire apparatus, safe ingress and egress but that do not require Fire District review.  Requirements would have 10’ clear zones on both sides of access 
  • Encourage/Require fire-resistant landscaping to satisfy landscaping requirements
  • Water Supply will meet the standards and criteria contained in the Water Supply section of the Wildland-Urban Interface Area Requirements of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) related to water sources and adequate water supply.  Alternative standards may be approved by the fire districts.
• Adoption of the latest IWUI building codes will be brought to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration in 2024.

Community Education: Opportunities, Gaps & Recommendations

1. Create, brand, maintain and promote a one-stop web page on reducing wildfire risk in Jefferson County that focuses largely on wildfire mitigation and emergency preparedness.
2. Create a communication calendar for the dissemination of proactive mitigation content targeted at specific audiences for distribution throughout the year.

Community Engagement Progress Report (a/o August 2022)

• As part of a county-wide Emergency Management best practices landing page, county staff is developing a page which will consolidate and promote the best management practices for homeowners and business owners to better equip their properties to prevent fires from starting and spreading.

Revenue Streams: Opportunities, Gaps & Recommendations

1. Define what the wildland-urban interface is in Jefferson County and a provide a physical description of where it is based on current science and fire behavior to create clear boundaries for regulation, mitigation and forest restoration efforts.
   1. Update the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) at the county level to address and prioritize risk areas and guide development and growth in those areas of the county.
2. Hire a full-time grant writer to research and write grants as well as have grant projects developed ahead of time using county expertise (e.g., Planning & Zoning, fire districts, etc.).
   
   
3. Research tax options for sustainable funding for mitigation (e.g., Summit and Chaffee Counties) and whether a tax increase or new tax would be countywide or only in the WUI to support wildfire risk reduction. 

Revenue Streams Progress Report (a/o August 2022)

• Staff will bring forward, in the next two months, to the Board of County Commissioners:
  • Renaming the county's Wildfire Overlay District to Wildland Urban Interface and expand the boundary so that WUI areas below 6400 ft. have expanded requirements for wildfire prevention.
• Commissioners recently earmarked $2.7 million in American Rescue Plan dollars to protect homes from wildfires in Jefferson County. The county will leverage those funds with a new state grant totaling $2 million from the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program. Jefferson County is one of only a handful of counties to receive this funding. These dollars and others totaling $7.5 million will advance the county's Jeffco Wildfire Safe.
  • Protect people and structures
  • Reduce fuel for wildfire
  • Increase SLASH collection and biomass recycling