Life in Our Fire District Brings Much to be Grateful For

By Cork Rech, CCCFPD CWPP Implementation Committee

As we celebrate the holidays, we realize we have much to be thankful for in Coal Creek Canyon (CCC). Living with wildfire in our heavily forested mountains, we know we must strive to make Fire Adapted Communities our reality. We are fortunate to have so much help to reach our goal.

We are grateful to our Fire District’s board of directors for updating the 2008 Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Over the course of two years, a team of fire science experts, state and federal agencies, local nonprofits which specialize in community fire mitigation, and local landowners, worked with our District Fire Chief to create a CWPP which reflects the concerns of all CCC residents. We give special thanks to all who sat on the Core Team of the CWPP and serve on the fire department’s Community Outreach and CWPP Implementation committees.

Our gratitude goes to all residents who engaged in the CWPP process by responding to the Fire Department’s resident survey, attended the community meetings, and came to give their feedback in two rounds of CWPP focus groups. Homeowners within the 15 CCC communities (Plan Units) joined together to form fire mitigation groups, under the leadership of residents who volunteered to serve as CWPP Community Ambassadors.

CWPP Progress Update

We applaud the amazing efforts of all the Plan Units doing meaningful fire mitigation projects in the six months since the new CWPP was published.

Over the summer and fall, Blue Mountain, Camp Eden, Chute Road, Coal Creek Heights, Copperdale, Crescent Park, Hilltop, Miramonte, Upper Twin Spruce, Vonnie Claire, and Wondervu followed the CWPP recommendations for their Plan Units. Their Community Ambassadors held many resident meetings, planned and executed fire mitigation for defensible space around homes, began urgently needed fuels thinning along shared evacuation routes, and learned how to harden homes to give them a fighting chance of surviving a wildfire. The Vonnie Claire group has applied for their first large grant to perform roadside clearing along potentially non-survivable roads in their community.

This work could not have been accomplished without the assistance of these organizations:

·         Coal Creek Canyon Fire Protection District

·         The Ember Alliance

·         Colorado State Forest Service

·         Colorado Department of Transportation

·         United Power’s fire mitigation assistance program

·         Boulder Wildfire Partners

·         Boulder Watershed Collective

·         Boulder Valley and Longmont Conservation District

·         Mile High Youth Corps

·         Jefferson Conservation District

·         Jefferson County Open Space

·         Team Rubicon

·         Lockheed Martin

·         US Air Force Academy

·         Crescent Park Community Fire Protection Association

·         Saws and Slaws

·         Coal Creek Canyon Improvement Association

·         Blue Mountain Forest Stewardship Initiative

·         Canyon Coffee

We are so extremely grateful for their proactive support in making our neighbors and our community safer and more resilient in the event of a wildfire. 

The CCC community gives thanks to our Fire Department for hosting the free Slash Drop-off Day at Station #2 and we look forward to filling the helipad with more giant piles of slash next spring!

The CWPP Implementation Team is happy to support our hardworking Community Ambassadors to plan and coordinate fire mitigation events. We are proud to work beside you.

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!