Fire Department Hosts Free Slash Drop Site

 Cork Rech, CCCFPD CWPP Implementation Committee

On September 21, the Fire Department hosted a Slash Drop-off Day for everyone living in the Coal Creek Canyon Fire Protection District (CCCFPD). The 6-hour event was sponsored by Boulder Wildfire Partners and was hugely successful, with 109 residents signing up. Folks did significant fire mitigation on their properties, and many dropped off multiple loads. In total, 149 loads were dropped on the helipad by CCC Fire Station #2. Many of those loads were in single pickup trucks or trailers but several came in construction roll-offs or large dump bed trucks/trailers! At press time on Monday, the slash was still being chipped so we don’t have a total cubic yard number yet…but it will be very impressive. Wildfire Partners told us ours was by far the largest volume of slash ever dropped at one of their Fire Department Special Events. We are grateful to Wildfire Partners for including CCCFPD in the program.

Speaking of impressive numbers, nearly 20 folks volunteered to help the Fire Department run the event. Several CCCFD Wildland Firefighters came to help folks wrangle slash off their vehicles, some CWPP Community Ambassadors showed up to help with check-in and traffic control, and several resident supporters of our firefighters came ready to work as well. Special kudos to Bobbie Steffe, CCCFD Office Manager, who worked with Wildfire Partners and the chipping vendor to plan and smoothly execute the event. (Bobbie also feeds the volunteers well, which is much appreciated by all!)

Special recognition also goes to the hardworking Community Ambassadors who rallied residents of their Plan Units and held fire mitigation cutting and slash collection efforts in their communities in the days before the event. Other Community Ambassadors are holding Wildfire Partners roadside chipping events in their Plan Units soon. There are plenty of neighbors helping neighbors all over CCC and we salute you all. As we work toward implementing the recommendations of our Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), we are helping to make our communities more fire resilient. Adequate clearing of fuels for defensible space around our homes will help our firefighters safely defend them.

With so much community support of the CCCFPD Slash Drop-off Day, showing the need for more slash disposal solutions throughout CCC, it is very likely the Fire Department will sponsor more of these events in the future.

Have questions about the CWPP or want to contact your CWPP Community Ambassador? Just email us at CWPPforCCC@gmail.com, with your name and street address, and we will hook you up!