• Cut your grass! This relatively easy action can dramatically improve your homes chances of surviving the next wildfire.  Keep dead, dry or curing grasses cut to less than 6 inches.  The further out from your home you weed whip the better! Unfortunately, many homes in the Fourmile Fire burned because tall grasses surrounded the homes.
• Clean up pine needles! Clean out pine needles from your gutters and right next to the house and wood decks. Pine needles are highly flammable and this simple step might save your home.
• Move firewood piles and other flammable materials! It is not a good idea to keep anything flammable within 30 feet of your home.  Many homes have burned in past fires from woodpiles and other flammable material igniting as a fire passed. Check under your deck too! Don’t keep scrap wood, debris or other items stored underneath decks.

Additional actions to take:

• Work with a professional forester or your local Fire Protection District to evaluate your “Three Zones of Defensible Space”.  By working with a professional forester you can learn about the most important steps you should take to help improve your defensible space.
• When prioritizing which trees to cut from around your home; first focus on removing trees closest to the home/buildings and then work progressively outwards.
• By cutting zones of defensible space you can help to slow the intensity and spread of a wildland fire as it moves across your property. There are several examples from the Fourmile Fire in which landowners wildfire mitigation efforts slowed the fire behavior as the fire moved through their properties. The proactive fuels reduction work that was completed before the fire occurred is credited in saving homes and trees on the mitigated land.
• Attached to this email is the Colorado State Forest Service publication “Creating Wildfire-Defensible Space Zones”. I encourage everyone to read more about how to create zones of defensible space! Remember that we need to be aggressive to be effective!
• As always please feel free to contact us with any questions!

Announcement: Allenspark area Sort Yard is Open for log and slash disposal

The Allenspark area sort yard opened for the season on Aug. 9 and has already seen a lot of activity. On the first day of operation it received over 80 loads of logs and slash! Keep up the great work everyone!

Complete details including hours of operation and location of the Allenspark Sort yard site can be found online by visiting:http://www.bouldercounty.org/live/environment/land/pages/fhsortyards.aspx.

Boulder County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan: Black Tiger Wildfire Video

As part of Boulder County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a series of videos were produced on past wildfires and the lessons residents have learned from living in the wildland-urban interface.  These videos are now available to view online here:http://www.youtube.com/user/BoulderCounty#g/c/466B051AC3E3C8BE

Today we encourage you to watch the video that is focused on the 1989 Black Tiger Fire. Link to video:http://www.youtube.com/user/BoulderCounty#p/c/466B051AC3E3C8BE/2/IvjFl9Ki2qk

At the time, the 1989 Black Tiger Fire was the most destructive in Colorado history. “I watched it from about 6 miles up the road and you could just see houses just go up in an explosion, just burn all at once,” recalls resident Betty Wall.  Twenty-one years later, residents and firefighters take a look back at what transpired that summer. In light of the neighboring Fourmile Canyon Fire, they discuss lessons they have learned rebuilding their homes and their lives following this devastating wildfire. “Once you have a fire like that, everyone’s aware of it and they become more conscious of it, but over time though as the years go by and you don’t have another fire, they kind of forget it. New people come in, you know, oh that’s something I can do next year, and it doesn’t get done.” shares Jim Hubbard, former Sugarloaf Fire Chief.

For more information on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, please visit:http://www.bouldercounty.org/live/environment/land/pages/lucwppmain.aspx

Cheers,
Ryan

Ryan Ludlow | Forestry Education & Outreach Coordinator
Boulder County | Land Use Department
P.O. Box 471, Boulder CO 80306
O: 720.564.2641 | F: 303.441.4856
rludlow@nullbouldercounty.org | www.bouldercounty.org/ForestHealth