Boulder County Wildfire Mitigation Group Background
Within the past three decades, Boulder County has
experienced its share of large and small wildfires. The
situation in Boulder County reached a crisis point in
1989, when the Black Tiger Fire burned 44 homes and
blackened over 2,000 acres of forested land in the
western part of the county just five miles from the city
of Boulder. This fire was a turning point in how Boulder
County addresses wildfires in what is now known as the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI).
In 1990, under a mandate from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the agencies and individuals
involved in the Black Tiger Fire produced a report
through the National Fire Protection Association that
became the wildfire portion of the Colorado Natural
Hazards Mitigation Plan. Soon after, at the directive of
the Board of County Commissioners, those same agencies
and individuals formed the Boulder County Wildfire
Mitigation Group (BCWMG). |
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Organization
The group was originally chaired by the Chief Building
Official for Boulder County and now is headed by the
Wildfire Mitigation Coordinator. It consists of members
from County Commissioners, Land Use, Parks and Open
Space, and Sheriff Departments, the Colorado State
Forest Service, the USDA Forest Service, National Park
Service, various local Fire Protection Districts and the
City of Boulder Fire Department, the American Red Cross,
representatives from the insurance, real estate, and
forest industry, and private citizens.
The group (or its work groups) has been meeting monthly
since its inception. While the group does not follow
Robert's Rules of Order, agendas are distributed and
minutes are kept for each meeting and action items are
developed and implemented using group consensus.
The group views itself a local working group of several
larger state-wide organizations and efforts, including
the Office of Emergency Management, State Hazards
Committee - Wildfire Hazard Subcommittee, Red Zone
Initiative and appropriate M.O.U.'s, Agreements and
Operating Plans. |
Projects/Programs
Since its inception, the BCWMG and its various
committees and work groups have taken on numerous
projects – both large and small – and has been
recognized for its interagency approach. These
Projects/Programs Include:
- Development of a Wildfire Hazard Identification and
Mitigation System (WHIMS) for mapping fire hazards
- Support the Boulder County Ecosystem Cooperative Fire
Mitigation/Forest Health/Restoration Projects such as
the Winiger Ridge Ecosystem Pilot Project
- Developing Mitigation Grants to assist homeowner
associations and fire districts with their fire
mitigation efforts
- Creation of the Boulder County Chipping Reimbursement
Program to subsidize costs of chipping and to aid in
slash collection and disposal
- Coordinating Prescribed Fire programs amongst the
various fire management entities within Boulder County
(Boulder County Wildfire Cooperators; Boulder County
Fire Management)
- Education and outreach programs, including sponsoring
Student Conservation Association Fire Education Corps
Teams. Developing brochures and information videos and
having displays for the Boulder County Fair and other
events.
- Encourages participation in wildfire-related
conferences, workshops and symposia such as Colorado
Mitigation and Wildfire Conference and the Boulder Wildland Fire Symposium.
- Supporting fuel reduction work through the use of
Fire
Mitigation Crews and AmeriCorps crews
- Assists in Land Use Reviews and Urban/Wildland Interface
Code development to encourage FireWise development
- Installation of Fire Danger Rating Signs at the entrance
of major canyons
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