Today’s newsletter covers the following:

• Maintenance: A Call to Action
• Sugarloaf Community Meeting
• Aerial Photo of Wildfire Mitigation Success in the Cold Springs Fire
• Working with Neighbors

Please forward this newsletter to individuals, groups and organizations you know who may be interested.

 

Tip of the Day: Maintaining Your Mitigation—A Call to Action

Trees, grasses, weeds, and shrubs all grow, and trees drop needles and pinecones. If you have performed wildfire mitigation, it is essential that you maintain it on a regular basis! You can find a mitigation quick checklist at: www.bouldercounty.org/doc/landuse/wildfiremitigationquickchecklist.pdf. If you have not performed mitigation, now is a great time to start.

 

If you have any questions about mitigation, please contact us at Boulder County Land Use Department,

303-441-3930, WildfireMitigation@bouldercounty.org.

 

 

Sugarloaf Community Meeting on Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation

The Sugarloaf Fire Protection District, Wildfire Partners, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, and Sugarloafers Against Wildfires (SAWS) will hold a community meeting for district residents at Station 2, 1360 Sugarloaf Road, on Thursday, August 18 from 7-9 p.m. With the recent Cold Springs Fire, many residents have questions about what they should do to prepare for future wildfires.

 

If your neighborhood or community is interested in hosting a meeting about wildfire preparedness and mitigation, please contact Jim Webster at jbwebster@bouldercounty.org.

 

Aerial Photo of Wildfire Mitigation Success in the Cold Springs Fire

Lester Karplus credits the wildfire mitigation work he did, with guidance from Wildfire Partners, in helping firefighters save his home during the Cold Springs Fire. On Lester’s property, the fire came dangerously close to all of his buildings, yet none burned. Stay tuned to the newsletter for more updates on Lester's story.

 

 

Working with Neighbors

If you are a regular reader of the Boulder County Wildfire Mitigation and Forest Health Newsletter, you understand the critical role mitigation plays in reducing wildfire risk and creating resilient communities. We thank you for everything you have done! We, however, need to recruit many more residents to follow in your footsteps. As the Cold Springs Fire and countless other wildfires have shown us, the greater the number of properly mitigated properties we have—the safer and more successful firefighters are at saving homes.

 

We often get the question: How can I get my neighbors to join Wildfire Partners and effectively mitigate their homes? Many of you have already signed up some of your neighbors or tried unsuccessfully to encourage them to join. You are our early adopters, community leaders, and ambassadors for mitigation. You are our most effective resource for spreading mitigation from property to property. As a result, we are available to support you reaching out to your neighbors in any way we can.

 

If your neighbor has a specific question or concern about Wildfire Partners, we can answer it. Have them call us at 303-441-3930 or visit our website at www.WildfirePartners.org. If you have already talked to them, try again. If you have not talked to them because you assumed they would not be interested, give it a try now. The Cold Springs Fire has been a wake-up call for many. We are seeing people change their attitudes about mitigation daily. In addition, a Wildfire Partners Mitigation Specialist is available to meet with you and a small group of your neighbors on site to answer questions about the program and encourage everyone to join together. We also have the Wildfire Partners Tour of Homes (more information will be available shortly) and Wildfire Partners Community Chipping Events (see our June newsletter for details).

 

Neighbors talking with and working with neighbors is a central message and core value of Wildfire Partners. Connections between neighbors are critical for mitigation and serve as the foundation for a resilient community

 

 

Cheers,

Rick, Kyle, Chris and Jim

 

Boulder County Land Use Department

303-441-3930

WildfireMitigation@bouldercounty.org