Cal-Wood fire Emergency Stabilization and Recovery

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Cal-Wood Fire began on Oct. 17, 2020, in Boulder County and was the largest wildland fire in the last 100-years of County history. Within 5 hours, the fire burned 10,112 acres in ponderosa pine forests. Half of the burned area falls within a Boulder County Parks and Open Space property called Heil Valley Ranch. Boulder County coordinated a multi-agency team to assess the fire impacts and future watershed threats. Our partners included representatives from local, state, and federal agencies as well as water providers and non-profit organizations. Our team assessed burn severity, developed mitigation plans, and initiated funding requests. Due to this cooperative planning effort, we quickly secured over $6 million in outside funding to create an advanced warning system for the burn area, stabilize the soil with mulch, implement a series of energy dissipation structures in flow paths, and repair and improve fire-damaged infrastructure. The burned area survived the first major wet season (2021) with little damage to infrastructure and minimal threat to public safety. With thoughtful coordination and utilization of resources and experience, Boulder County was able to mitigate future damage from post-fire watershed changes and help put this burned area on a resilient path to restoration.