Single Publication

PRESS RELEASE - Gunnison County Community & Economic Development Department

The Lowline Fire between Gunnison and Crested Butte has reminded us all that wildfire is a real risk in Gunnison County. The U.S. Forest Service, BLM, state agencies and local responders have done a fantastic job responding to the fire and keeping the community updated. We, as community members, have an important role to play in helping firefighting efforts and reducing the risk to firefighters, ourselves, and our property. Nearly all properties in Gunnison County are part of the wildland-urban interface. What does that mean? In simple terms, the wildland-urban interface represents the zone where development meets untamed wilderness, presenting heightened risk of wildfire hazards.

In response to increasing risk from wildfire the Gunnison County Board of Commissioners adopted the “2021 International Wildland Urban Interface Code” in 2022 which identifies standards for defensible space and ignition resistant construction for new structures and development. County Commissioner Jonathan Houck said, “after we’ve seen so much devastating destruction from wildfires in Colorado we felt it was important to get ahead of the risks and begin to change the way we build structures in Gunnison County so that they are able to resist wildfires.”

Land managers including the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service have increased their work in the past three years to mitigate the impacts of beetle infestations in the County including the 400-acre Wilder-Highlands Mountain Pine Beetle Response project in the Taylor Canyon and Lost Canyon areas to eliminate the infestations in those areas. These proactive measures support a healthier forest and can reduce some wildfire risk. However, the risk of wildfire and destruction of life and property is exacerbated by rural development patterns and the construction of structures that are not fire resistant.

Mike Tarantino, Supervisory Forester of the Colorado State Forest Service Gunnison Field Office explains that “wildfire risk is driven by three important factors: the likelihood of fire occurring based on local conditions; predicted intensity of a wildfire based on vegetation and weather conditions; and the susceptibility of communities, structures and infrastructure to a wildfire.” The Colorado State Forest Service offers programs and resources to not only support vegetation management on public lands but also on private lands—they help to reduce the likelihood of a high severity catastrophic wildfire occurring through fuels management. They also address the susceptibility of communities and structures to wildfire by working with private property owners to develop defensible space and land management plans for their properties. These resources are available at LiveWildfireReady.org.

However, all properties in Gunnison County—even property owners that live within the City of Gunnison, Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte--have the opportunity to reduce their own risk and support our community and firefighters. Creating defensible space around your home and structures is a great place to start. Defensible space is an area around your home or structures that creates a buffer of managed vegetation to reduce wildfire threats.

Sean Caffrey of the Crested Butte Fire Protection District explains that “defensible space can be created through tasks that can be accomplished in a weekend such as mowing all tall grasses and vegetation on a property; removing wood piles and combustible materials away from your home and structures; trimming trees that are close to your house and thinning vegetation within ten feet of a structure.” The Colorado State Forest Service and West Region Wildfire Council offer specific programs and support for defensible space and fuels management for private property owners. Their information and other resources are online at: https://gunnisoncounty.org/1005/Wildfire-Info.

Additionally, when considering building a new structure or doing an addition you may be required (in Gunnison County) to utilize ignition resistant exterior materials. “These materials may include noncombustible materials, fire-retardant treated wood, log or heavy timber, class A or 1-hour fire-rated materials” said Crystal Lambert, Gunnison County Building and Environmental Health Official. Lambert said there are a large number of material options that homeowners can use that will reduce the risk of wildfire damaging their homes or structures and encourages residents to talk with a design professional and local suppliers.

Hugo Ferchau, Gunnison Fire Marshal, says that another important measure that residents should implement is creating a “hardened zone” within five feet of their home and structures. This is an area of five feet surrounding the structure that does not include any flammable materials or vegetation and is maintained to resist wildfire. This can include an area that replaces mulch beds with gravel or replaces a combustible wood deck with a non-combustible or class A-rated material. Significant research has found that structures are most often damaged through the carrying of fire embers on wind—these embers can carry miles and when they land in a mulch bed or on a wood deck they can catch fire and damage or destroy homes.

Wildfire always has been, and always will be part of the landscape in Gunnison County. We’ve been fortunate in that there have not been catastrophic fires here in the past, but looking to the future, we should expect an increase in wildfire frequency and severity. Gunnison County residents have been incredibly supportive of the Lowline Fire firefighting efforts and they can further support those efforts by creating defensible space on their property and using non-combustible materials when building. More information can be found online at: https://gunnisoncounty.org/1005/Wildfire-Info/.

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