Wildfire preparedness in southwest Colorado is often framed around what residents can do before flames are nearby: clear gutters, move firewood, sign up for alerts and make an evacuation plan.
But local officials and watershed groups say preparation also happens at a larger scale, through emergency planning, forest management and work to protect water, roads and infrastructure before and after a fire.
Adam Moore, a supervisory forester with the Colorado State Forest Service, said one common misunderstanding is that wildfires destroy homes only as a wall of flames moves through a community.
“Most houses are actually lost by these embers flying and landing on places on the house that's very vulnerable,” Moore said. “There's a lot of simple steps homeowners can do to reduce the wildfire risk, and a lot of these steps can be fairly easy to do and low to no cost as well.”
Moore said embers can travel far beyond the visible edge of a fire. That means wildfire preparation can matter not only for homes surrounded by forest, but also for neighborhoods and areas where dry grass, pinyon-juniper, oak brush or other fuels connect homes to the larger landscape.
In Montezuma County, Emergency Manager Jim Spratlen said his office approaches wildfire through what he calls consequence management.
That means the response depends not just on the hazard itself, but where it happens, who is nearby, what roads are affected and what services could be disrupted.
Spratlen said local emergency planning includes fire districts, law enforcement, public health, communications, transportation, municipalities, utilities and other partners. He said residents can also reduce confusion before an emergency by signing up for Everbridge alerts.
The county can send out broad emergency alerts through federal systems, but Spratlen said Everbridge allows for more detailed updates about road closures, smoke, evacuations and other local conditions.
“We would like people to sign up for Everbridge,” Spratlen said. “That's one of the things I want people to know, is sign up for that, so they're aware of what's going on in their community.”
The same planning also extends beyond the fire itself.
The Dolores Watersheds Collaborative is developing a Wildfire Ready Action Plan for the upper Dolores watershed. Coordinator Nina Williams said the project looks at what could happen after a large, high-intensity fire if it is followed by a significant precipitation event.
“That can look like increased flooding, debris flows, hill slope erosion, runoff, or increased sedimentation,” Williams said.
Williams said those impacts can pose risks to infrastructure, bridges, culverts, roads, homes, water infrastructure, ditches and head gates.
The planning area covers about 600,000 acres, from Lizard Head Pass through the upper Dolores watershed and toward Dove Creek. The work looks at risks to life and property, water infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources.
Moore said forests and watersheds are connected in the way landscapes respond after fire. Vegetation can slow rain and help water absorb into the ground. After a severe burn, that can change.
“When all of those different factors that can intercept the rain have disappeared, then it just hits the ground and doesn't get the chance to go in, and it just starts washing away,” Moore said.
He said maintaining forests in ways that reduce fire intensity can also reduce opportunities for post-fire erosion.
That is part of why wildfire preparedness now includes more than putting out fires. Moore said fuels reduction can happen at different scales, from individual homeowners creating defensible space to larger projects on public or community lands.
Spratlen said residents should also think through evacuation before they are under pressure to leave. That includes having important documents, medications, pet food, chargers, extra keys, cash and other essentials ready to go.
He said residents should also keep a paper map in case cell service goes down, know their evacuation routes, and make plans for pets, livestock, older adults and people who rely on medical equipment.
Spratlen said people should also be prepared for the possibility that they are not directly threatened by flames, but still lose power or water because of a fire nearby.
“If power goes out, which it can, and has, because of fire, and if that fire is in danger, in a line, they're going to turn power off,” Spratlen said.
He said power may not be restored until utility crews inspect affected lines, which can take days.
Williams said the long-term goal is a watershed that can keep functioning through changing conditions, including drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks.
“Success five years from now looks like a resilient watershed,” Williams said.
More information on emergency preparedness is available at ready.gov.
