Colorado Springs wildfire risk grows after dry winter
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Colorado Springs faces severe wildfire risk after a hot, dry winter, leading to a growing push for mitigation.
Why it matters: Homes and humans are at risk, especially along the wooded western edges of the city.
Threat level: Colorado Springs has a history of deadly, destructive wildfires, which could prove instructive following an unusually dry winter.
- "I don't sleep very well at night because we have the potential of having a big, significant fire," Colorado Springs fire chief Randy Royal told the media last week.
The latest: Fire officials say they're clearing out and chipping dead vegetation from parts of Blodgett Open Space and Cheyenne Mountain State Park this year.
- City leaders still need neighborhood buy-in, particularly for chipping programs that turn trees and brush into wood chips.
- Meanwhile, homeowners can get stipends for defensible space fixes through a city wildfire prevention program.
Flashback: Mayor Yemi Mobolade said in late April that since 2022, the city has increased its fire prevention efforts, including thinning and removing dead vegetation in high-risk areas, by 60%.
- The 2021 voter-approved Measure 2D has funded much of that effort, providing $20 million in excess Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) funds for wildfire prevention and mitigation.
State of play: In the last five years, 2D-funded Fire Department crews have removed dead fuel sources from hundreds of acres of hillside along the edges of the old Waldo Canyon Fire burn scar, as well as other higher-risk areas, like Stratton and Palmer Park open spaces.
Reality check: Even with last week's rain, the state's April 28 drought report showed 100% of Colorado is still in at least moderate drought.
- With historically low winter snowfall, it would take repeated rainy weather systems "to get us back in the right direction," National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Rodriguez told Axios.
- "It's likely not going to take much for us to dry out again," he added.
What's next: Mobolade and Royal told residents to sign up with Peak Alerts for fire news and emergency notifications, and to be prepared to evacuate in case of emergency.
- The Pikes Peak Regional Emergency Management office also launched an emergency information map last month that will show fire locations and evacuation zones.