Tremendous Strides

Over 700,000 acres have burned this year in Colorado.

TOP 10 Wildfire Preperation Tips

Colorado Project Wildfire Taskforce Makes Tremendous Strides In Midst of State’s Worst Wildfire Season on Record

Following a relatively mild 2019 Colorado wildfire season, the relentless and unprecedented nature of all things 2020 has now added “catastrophic,” “historic,” and “worst” wildfire season on record to its list of casualties this year with approximately 700,000 acres burned and hundreds of homes and other structures lost. And the fires are still burning.

Prior to 2002, Colorado had never had a fire even come close, let alone exceed 100,000 acres. The Hayman fire changed that, and fortunately 11 years passed before another fire crossed that boundary. Now, in 2020, Colorado has three of the largest fires in state history, including the Cameron Peak fire which is the first to exceed 200,000 acres.

Even before the outbreak of fires that have required firefighters to battle incredibly challenging conditions and terrain, COVID restrictions had drastically limited the growing number of annual in-person, communitybased events and mitigation activities. And yet, members of the Colorado Association of REALTORS® Project Wildfire Taskforce continued to make tremendous strides across a wide range of program goals and objectives.

A record number of REALTOR® members representing wildfire prone communities across the state participated in an informative Fall Forum discussion and update on a wide range of topics designed to help educate homeowners and help prevent the potentially devastating impact of fires to property, structures and lives. With members providing updates on local programming and initiatives from Aspen and Durango to Mountain Metro, Vail and Steamboat Springs, the Taskforce also reviewed the latest legislative policies and proposals, as well as insurance industry issues and a presentation of a newly released interactive tool from the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) focused on a more localized wildfire risk index.

Here are some highlights of the program work and resources that has and continues

to be implemented by our REALTOR® team and stakeholder partners since the Stay at Home and Safer at Home restrictions were implemented statewide:

WILDFIRE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN – PUBLIC OUTREACH:

In May, CAR partnered with the CSFS and the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association (RMIA) to promote and encourage a wide range of mitigation and wildfire preparation activities that could be completed during statewide Stay-at-Home orders related to COVID.

From completing home inventories, including photographs and video, to cleaning gutters and rooftops, trimming backyard shrubs and trees, to removing flammable materials from the perimeter of the home, reviewing insurance policies and more, we encouraged homeowners to take advantage of extra time at home to engage in a wide range of low-cost mitigation steps proven to protect homes and land and help reduce damage to structures and communities.

Our promotion and outreach included a Top 10 Wildfire Preparation Tips produced in cooperation with CSFS and the National Fire Protection Association.

COLORADO STATE FOREST SERVICE WUI RISK INDEX:

With more than half of the state’s population living in a wildfire prone area, the CSFS wildland-urban interface (WUI) risk index provides a county-by-county assessment using housing density combined with modeled fire behavior to determine where the greatest potential impact to people and homes is likely to occur. The index for each county is presented as an infographic to provide a simplified, accessible overview of the various levels of wildfire risk for residents living in that county. The index is intended to increase awareness of wildfire risk, particularly in counties with a significant amount of its population located in the WUI.

The documents containing the infographics are available in a PDF format through the Colorado Forest Atlas at The public can access and download the documents for each of the 64 counties in Colorado through a drop-down menu available in the Wildfire Risk Viewer application within the Colorado Forest Atlas coloradoforestatlas.org.

“Every homeowner should be aware of the wildfire risk in their community and the associated responsibility to reduce that risk, not only to protect their property, but also to improve the safety of first responders,” said CSFS Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Daniel Beveridge. “There are numerous examples from the past few seasons showing that proactive wildfire mitigation efforts are effective and now is a perfect time for people across the state to take action.

THE COLORADO FIRE COMMISSION:

Established in 2019 through the approval and signing of SB19040, the Colorado Fire Commission operates under the Colorado Department of Public Safety and is made up of 24 voting members and at least seven ex-officio members, including Sarah Thorsteinson, executive director for Summit REALTORS®. Thorsteinson is one of just a few private-sector members of the state’s first Fire Commission, which is authorized to develop task forces and help find solutions to a wide range of issues that impact Colorado’s fire service. The Commission, which includes sheriffs, fire chiefs, experts from the DFPC, forest service representatives, and members of the Governor’s cabinet, aims to enhance public safety in Colorado through an integrated statewide process focused on the fire service’s capacity to conduct fire management, use, preparedness, prevention and response activities to safeguard lives, property, and natural resources.

The Commission focused its 2020 efforts on wildfires as a whole and will look at structure fires in particular for 2021, including building materials and codes which will be of strong interest to CAR and its members.

INSURANCE AND LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY:

CAR’s Government Affairs team, led by Liz Peetz, worked through one of the most challenging legislative sessions in 2020 to keep a close eye on a wide range of fire management and wildfire related bills and proposals. Like almost every other facet of our lives, it’s unclear what fire management funding will look like in 2021 due to COVID-related budget constraints. Based on this year’s season, the issues, budgets and outcomes will be top of mind at the Capitol when the new session begins in January with lawmakers likely pushing funding for both fire suppression and fire mitigation.

The Colorado Fire Commission is considering bringing forward bills that use insurance premium taxes as a funding mechanism for fire suppression without raising taxes.

One bill that was passed and signed by the Governor prior to the pandemic was HB-1057. This bill expands access to the current wildfire mitigation grant by reducing the amount of funding an organization commits and opening up the grant to additional types of organizations.

From an insurance industry perspective, Colorado is in many ways ahead of the curve of many Western states in developing and supporting model community mitigation projects. Partnership efforts have focused on best practices for using the science provided through these diverse local and national partners to protect property through mitigation.

“Colorado’s devastating 2020 wildfire season is a stark reminder that our combined federal, state and community mitigation efforts to reduce risk to properties isn’t just something we should do, but something Coloradans urgently need to do now, not sometime in the future,” says Carole Walker, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association. “The loss of hundreds of homes and hundreds of thousands of acres burned is another tipping point for insurers and REALTORS® to use our collective voices in urging property owners to protect their homes and their ability to insure those homes.

“While these fires further demonstrate Colorado’s escalating wildfire threat, we do still have a competitive and available homeowners insurance market. Homeowners in high-risk areas will likely pay more for insurance, and depending on factors, such as slope, access roads, proximity to fire protection, may have to shop more for insurance carriers or look to higher risk insurance,” Walker adds. “However, insurers put a strong emphasis on mitigation when determining insurability of properties. If homeowners invest in proper mitigation and complete insurance requirements to address wildfire risk this will help them get and keep affordable coverage.

EXPANDING STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS:

A key element in the growth of Colorado Project Wildfire has always been the formation of strategic partnerships with organizations, including the Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, National Fire Protection Association, Fire Adapted Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association (RMIA). In recent months we’ve worked cooperatively with the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) to share valuable research and interactive tools available to the public including a Wildfire Ready Guide PDF brochure and newly released video animation depicting home ignition and the use of fire resistant building materials that can be shared on websites, through social posts, etc.

“Although it’s easy to be distracted by the historic nature that this wildfire season and coronavirus have brought us in the past eight months, we can’t take our eyes off of the significant and potentially deadly threat that wildfires bring to our state each year,” said Ulrich Salzgeber, chairman of CAR’s Colorado Project Wildfire Taskforce. “With more than 27,000 members living, working and supporting communities throughout our state, we will continue to be proactive in helping educate and support homeowners and residents living in these WUI areas about the steps they can take and the resources available to them to mitigate their properties and be prepared for the growing wildfire risk.”

The local and personalized events, communication, education and training that are making the biggest impact on residents and driving behavior.

“We’ve seen some very impressive results from our efforts not just in partnering with local firefighting agencies and experts but the residents of those specific communities,” said Salzgeber. “From the earliest and ongoing efforts of our members across the state, we’re getting more and more individuals involved and taking advantage of the resources that already exist in their communities to help them protect, and in most cases, improve the safety, functionality and value of their property.”

WHAT’S NEXT/OPPORTUNITIES/HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

While battling through the 2020 wildfire season, the CPW Taskforce came out of its October meeting with plans to continue and expand the important wildfire education work in the coming months and years, including special opportunities around the 100-year CAR anniversary that will be highlighted throughout 2021.

For CAR members working across the state’s growing WUI communities, there are opportunities to get more involved with Colorado Project Wildfire, to lead efforts in local communities to raise awareness and participate in the advocacy efforts, as well as, apply for grants to implement those programs. Details can be found at: www.ColoradoREALTORS.com/projectwildfire