As temperatures begin to rise with the approach of summer, something else will be on the rise for residents of Colorado: the risk of wildfires.
While fire season in Colorado lasts all year, factors such as dry weather and lack of humidity during the warm months are key factors in making areas more prone to fires. In 2017, there were 967 reported wildfires, burning across 111,667 acres,
While not all wildfires are a danger to citizens, lack of preparation by homeowners can put their properties at risk. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service teamed up with The Nature Conservancy to create the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, a group that works to create a ‘more wildfire-resilient future.’ A fire-adapted community is one that has the knowledge needed to lessen damage from wildfires and is prepared for when they do occur.
“We can be the local champions, and we can have more communities that are safer,” said Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey of the network. Osborne is a member of the Fire Learning Network and a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Being a local champion in the community means helping homeowners who are unaware of the dangers wildfires bring, and working to bring knowledge to the community.
Many homes in the Boulder area are at risk of burning in wildfires. With proper preparations from both homeowners and firefighters, that risk can be reduced dramatically. FLN’s can help to educate homeowners on wildfires and how they can protect their homes from fires. But according to Osborne, it takes more than just information and education, homeowners need to be open to the program and the steps that it takes to lessen their risk of being hit by fire.
“That’s where there’s often a barrier to having this mitigation work being done,” said Osborne. “Getting information out there to educate people about it, it’s got to go beyond that.”
The mitigation Osborne is speaking about is the work that is done by communities, fire departments and private companies, that helps to decrease the chance of any wildfire spreading near homes and causing damage or loss.
Acknowledging the dangers of fire is one thing, but homeowners in fire-prone communities need to take action to prepare themselves for when wildfire spreads close to their homes. Getting homeowners to actively work on fire mitigation is a struggle, even for firefighters trying to help protect homeowners from risk.
An important step in preventing wildfires from spreading to homes is by reducing the density of trees around the home. Defensible space is the natural area around a home that includes wildlife such as trees and other foliage. If this area is filled with trees, there is a higher risk for the fire to spread to the home, which is why this space needs to be modified to reduce the risk of fire hazard. The defensible space acts as a buffer between the home and the fire. There should be no trees within 10 to 15 feet of a home, and trees should be at least ten feet apart from one another, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This work can greatly decrease the risk of fire spreading to the home.
This practice is one that homeowners often resist, according to Rod Moraga, a fire behavior analyst and co-founder of Anchor Point Group, a fire management consulting group in Boulder. Moraga previously worked as a prescribed fire manager for the Boulder Fire Department and was the head of the Open Space Ranger Program as a forest and fire ecologist.
“People live in the mountains because they love trees, and when you tell them we’re going to cut trees, they’re not happy about it,” said Moraga.
A lot of this mitigation work can be done by firefighters, but homeowners can do this work themselves. This includes thinning out landscapes so that the spread of fire through the crowns of trees occurs less often. In thinned forests, where trees are widely spaced, it’s more difficult for crown fires to spread or reach homes. Crown fires are those that occur on treetops, spreading from the top of one tree to the top of another.
By thinning the trees near homes, the space between trees is larger, which helps to stop a fire from spreading. A lot of trees are near private properties and because of this, it is less likely that thinning has occurred, which raises risks of fires spreading to homes.
Creating fuel breaks is another tactic firefighters use to help prevent the spread of future fires. Vegetation or other fire fuels are cleared out to create a barrier that prevents the further spread of the fire. But according to Moraga, there are instances where homeowners have declined this service from the fire department. This happened recently, when this service was offered and was being paid for by the government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“We weren’t able to actually complete the fuel break,” said Moraga.
This was due to hesitation by some community members. While some homeowners welcomed the service, others would not allow it. If one home does the work but their neighbor does not, the risk is still high of fire spreading due to lack of completion of the work.
“That’s often one of the barriers to getting this kind of work done, said Osborne.
While there may be a strategic plan in place to reduce the risk of fire, it depends on the community to band together and get the work done. Osborne says that sometimes all it takes is one person to bring the community together to make the changes needed.
“(If) you don’t have somebody who is the local champion for those sorts of things and can get the other homeowners to say, ‘Hey, we have to do this work. I know we like our trees, but we’re also in a very fire-prone area and if we don’t want to burn up at some point,’…that’s a difficult space to operate in” said Osborne.
Many people may move into areas that are dense with trees, which haven’t seen much fire. But they may not realize these trees have an elevated risk for the spread of wildfire. Having FLN’s can increase knowledge of these issues and could possibly save homes from future fires.
Even insurance companies are recognizing the importance of homeowner mitigation and community programs, and some are offering lower rates for homes involved in fire mitigation. This has helped to motivate homeowners to be proactive and work to lower their risk of fire spreading to their homes. Some companies will refuse to insure homes that have not participated in proper fire mitigation or are in areas more prone to fires.
“When it’s the government telling you to do something there’s an immediate, oh no, not going to do that. But when it’s your insurance company saying, either you do this or we’re just not going to insure your house, that puts a whole different spin on it,” said Chris O’Brien, deputy chief with Left Hand Fire Department.
Without proper mitigation, over time these ecosystems will change in ways that will affect not only vegetation in the area but the wildlife there as well. It could also create an even more fire-prone environment. Changing the community’s perception of fire is a key part of this concept, according to Moraga.
“Fire is a crucial core piece of this environment. Those who work in fire may know that getting fire on the landscape can really help reduce risk, but there’s still largely a public perception of, ‘there’s fire, there’s smoke, put it out immediately,’ so how do we make those changes?” Said Moraga.
Being able to educate the public on the importance of fire in an ecosystem is key. Fire can break down organic matter and allow for new cycles of life to begin. Having fires occur not only makes environments safer for communities in the future, but it also replenishes the health of the forest.
“If we can have this learning network, where there is this kind of institutional memory across the nation of how you live in these sorts of environments more safely with fire, that perhaps we can build up the capacities of these communities to be able to do more of this kind of mitigation work,” said Osborne.
Fire mitigation can help to prevent losses, and can also decrease the intensity of damages that may occur. By preparing homes, it is more likely that a home could be saved in the event of a fire spreading towards it. At the end of the day, mitigation could save your home and even your life. But regardless of community involvement, firefighters will still follow three important rules on the ground.
“We’ll risk a lot to save a life, we’ll risk a little to save property, and we won’t risk anything for things that are already lost,” said O’Brien.
