×

01.

Help Me With...

Select from list
My Residential Property
My Driver's License or Vehicle Registration
Requesting Assistance
Elections
Health Department

02.

Select from list
My Property Valuation
Understanding My Valuation
Paying My Property Tax
Neighborhood Sales
Building Permits
Vehicle Registration - New Stickers
Vehicle Registration - New Vehicle
Drivers License - New or Renew
New Resident Vehicle Registration
Adult Protection
Child Welfare
Child Support
Child Care
Financial Assistance
Medical Assistance
Food Assistance
Register to Vote / Update Voter Registration
Upcoming Election Information
Ballot Drop Box Locations
Voter Service and Polling Centers
Birth/Death Records
Restaurant Inspections
Community Health
Child Care Center Inspections
Septic System Inspections
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Disease Surveillance
Mental and Behavioral Health Education
Community Health and Clinical Services
Women, Infants and Children

03.

×
× Close
Building Division

Protect Your Home (Wildfire Mitigation)

×

Take Action to Prepare Your Home & Property for Wildfire

Wildfires are a natural part of Colorado’s forests. If your home and other structures intermingle with wildland vegetation, you are at risk of being affected by wildfire. Planning ahead and taking action can increase the likelihood your home survives when a wildfire occurs.

Learn how you can protect your home, property and forest and be Firewise, and if you are eligible for the Wildfire Mitigation Tax Credit.

 

Protect Your Property – Practical Steps

Firefighters always do their best to reduce fire damage, but ultimately, it is your responsibility to protect your property from wildfire. Taking practical steps to prepare your home does not guarantee it will survive a wildfire, but it does improve the odds. Any work completed may also allow firefighters who might be present to safely engage the fire and attempt to protect your property. If fire and site conditions are unsafe, firefighters will not be there.

The Home Ignition Zone

As you address the home ignition zone on your property, always start with the home or structure and work outwards. Remember, taking action to prepare for a wildfire is not a one-time effort — it requires ongoing maintenance to give your home the best chance of surviving a wildfire.

 

Examples of bad and good defensible space

Bad defensible space

A home such as the one pictured above does not have sufficient defensible space.

Keep in mind that fires can burn from the outside to a home, but can also start in a home and burn to the outside endangering the surrounding forest and other residents’ homes. Good defensible space will help protect your home in either case.

This lot retains the look of a forested area while still providing good defensible space for the house.

 

This Douglas County home has good defensible space while maintaining the rural setting and ambiance created by trees.

 

 

Fuels (ladder and mixed)

Examples of ladder fuels are found almost everywhere in Douglas County. Flames snaking along the ground would feed on the shrubs. The resulting flames from the shrubs would easily ignite the crowns of the trees above them.

This Gambel Oak provides ambiance and shade without interfering with defensible space.

Examples of mixed fuels are found throughout Douglas County.

 

Additional Mitigation Resources

Other Mitigation Resources in Douglas County 

The following resources are provided for informational purposes only.

Collaborative Partnership Projects

Wildfire Mitigation staff is involved with several collaborative partnerships including the Front Range Fuels Roundtable and the Pikes Peak Wildfire Prevention Partners (PPWPP), NGOs such as the Coalition for the Upper South Platte (CUSP) and communities to assist with mitigation projects and program outreach on hazardous fuels reduction projects in Douglas County with funds acquired from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).