Community Wildfire Protection Plans are voluntarily developed by communities for the purpose of reducing wildfire risk. During his presentation to the Falcon Fire Protection District Board of Directors, Keith Worley said a CWPP coordinates preparedness, suppression, mitigation and prevention ìin a landscape context.î He also emphasized that a CWPP is a guide, not a regulation and not part of land use regulations.Worley said having a CWPP can improve eligibility for wildfire prevention and mitigation grants for individuals, communities and the fire district because a CWPP is now required for most federal and some state grants. As an example, Trent Harwig, fire chief, said the Spirit Lakes neighborhood was turned down for a mitigation grant because it lacked a CWPP.A CWPP requires collaboration among homeowner associations, firefighting agencies, emergency managers, county and state agencies such as Parks and Open Space and the Division of Wildlife, watershed councils and other interested parties. A CWPP also prioritizes and performs fuel reduction/treatments. Worley said mitigation by individual property owners works, ìBut it takes a community to pull it off successfully.îReducing structural ignitability is also addressed by CWPPs. Worley said scientific studies have shown that an estimated 80 percent of homes lost in wildfires were ignited by embers and not the fire itself. He added that embers ignited fires in about 90 percent of the homes lost in Mountain Shadows during the Waldo Canyon fire.However, it is not just homes in forested areas that face a threat from wildfire. Worley said homes built in prairie grasslands are also at risk. With its forests, open prairie and urban areas, he described the Falcon fire district as ìunique and diverse.îWorley estimated that the FFPDís CWPP would be completed by late September or early October. However, he said a CWPP is a dynamic document that should never sit on a shelf gathering dust. It is meant to be changed and upgraded periodically as the district changes through the years. ìItís not just a one-time deal,î Worley said.
