The horrendous wildfires in California are stark reminders of how devastating wildfire can be to lives and property. Teller County is listed as number seven in Colorado among counties most at risk. Living in the wildland-urban interface poses the threat of wildfire that could cost lives and homes. Fire mitigation lessens the threat by reducing the amount of fuel.

Recently, the Highland Lakes Fire started as a structural fire and grew quickly to a 166-acre Wildland Fire threatening 700 homes in the Divide subdivision. After the fire, Allen Schultz, a member of the NoFloCo Mitigation Posse went looking for examples of how mitigation may have benefited homeowners in Highland Lakes. Schultz himself lives in the area and NoFloCo has mitigated several properties in that subdivision.

Schultz said it was obvious where homeowners had worked on their properties by removing pine needles, other debris, and removed ladder fuel (lower branches of trees). Where the ladder fuel had been removed, the fire often passed under the tree without igniting the upper branches. Removing ground fuel often prevented a surface fire from reaching the houses.

“The fire just made a big oval around some houses and seeing how it (fire) missed them like that, shows mitigation definitely works,” Schultz said. “The fire had burned right up to the windows and decks, but there wasn’t enough ground fuel for it to reach the houses on mitigated properties.

“I’ve attended many hardening and mitigation classes and the steps homeowners can take are repeated over and over. But when you actually see where mitigation saved a home, that is very rewarding.”

Another example of the effectiveness of mitigation practices was seen during the 403 fire in 2023. James and Amber Golden purchased their home in 2018 and found the grounds in disarray since the house had sat empty for a while. One of the first things they did was work on cleaning up around their property. They raked and removed tons of pine needles that were almost two feet deep in places, mowed the grass and trimmed trees and bushes, cut down and removed dead or dying trees, cleaned up around their propane tank, and set their firewood piles away from the house.

The 403 Fire started about 200 yards from their house and the wind blew the fire in their direction.

James Golden was at home and smelled smoke. He went out on the deck to investigate.

“When I saw the fire, I panicked. It was big and coming fast, right towards us,” he exclaimed. “I grabbed the dog and put him into the truck, I was sure we were going to lose the house.”

Golden went onto explain that he felt he witnessed a miracle. He explained how the fire never reached the house and seemed to just go around them.

“I couldn’t believe it, I was sure our house was doomed, but it (the fire) raged on past us,” he said.

Shovels and other hand tools in the yard were burnt and melted showing how hot and intense the fire was, but the house wasn’t even singed.

Due to the mitigation efforts of the Goldens, firefighters were able to keep the fire from actually reaching the house. The fire scar was all around the house and one of their wood piles burned, but there wasn’t enough ground fuel for the fire to get closer to the house and the fire literally passed them by.

The Goldens praised the firefighters for their hard work, but Susan Bernstetter, Chief of Lake George Fire Protection District was extremely complimentary of their mitigation efforts.

“What all they did made our job far easier and this is a perfect example of the effectiveness of fire mitigation,” she said.

According to Colorado Forest Service, “As more people choose to live in areas prone to wildfire, additional homes and lives are potentially threatened every year,” the Colorado Forest Service says. “Firefighters always do their best to protect rural residents, but ultimately, it is YOUR responsibility to protect your life, family, animals and property from wildfire.”