Wildfire Mitigation Resources

Each insurance company requires different things when it comes to fire mitigation. 

Here are some things you need to know before you can proceed:

• What guidelines, if any, did the insurance company send?
• Was there an inspection done by the insurance company?
• Have you spoken with your agent? 
• Is there a deadline?
• Where are your property lines located?

Ideally, you will know the answers to those questions. If you don't, we can complete the steps necessary for "voluntary mitigation." 

Note that if we proceed in this matter, you may need to switch insurance companies.

Contact us when you hear from your insurance company and we can help you if your insurance company is requesting or requiring fire mitigation on your property.

Fire mitigation is the reduction of light, moderate and heavy fuels in a forest stand.

Wildfire mitigation allows you to minimize the destructive effects a wildfire has on your property by creating a defensible space around your home and modifying the home's construction (for example, the materials used to build your house)

Because fire won’t start in a heavy fuel setting (think about starting a campfire; you’ll always begin with light material like paper, needles, or grass, then add on the small to medium pieces of wood like sticks and twigs before the “firewood”, the heavy fuel that will burn for the longest time), we focus on the light and moderate fuels on your property.

The goal is to reduce or mitigate all the light and moderate fuels to a point where they can’t start your heavy fuels on fire.

Defensible space is the area around your house where the vegetation, including shrubs and trees, has been modified or removed to reduce the intensity of a wildfire and slow its spread.

It is the area near the structures but also the area along the ingress/egress. Defensible space is the “space” fire personnel will work to access and protect the structures. It’s also the area we’ll all use to safely evacuate in the event of a wildfire.

Having a good defensible space will also prevent a structure fire (like a spilled turkey fryer on your deck) from becoming a forest fire. If your house somehow has a fire we want there to be a safe working area for the fire department.

Learn more about how to create a defensible space >>

No! This is a very common misnomer about fire mitigation.

Many of our large, old trees have seen a fire in their past. They have exceptionally thick bark at the bottom that helps them survive fire.

The problem is because of our fire suppression efforts, the fuel in the forest (too many trees) lends to large, more aggressive fires.

The goal of fire mitigation is to mitigate the fuels, usually focusing on the fuels that have developed (grown) in the last 50 years. These are all the small to medium-sized trees in our forest as well as any dead, downed, and diseased trees.

We do our best to preserve those mature trees because of their resistance to fire and their value to your landscape.

Looking for some great plants for firewise properties? We have an article on that!

We’ll begin near the house, known as the home ignition zone or zone one (Z1).

This is an area that includes the first 30’ around the home, down your driveway, and along the portion of roadway your property borders. It begins at the edge of the roofline or attachments, like a deck or overhanging eve. The driveway section is measured from the center of the drive out to the sides 30’.

Our aim is to create a defensible space here, so that fire personnel can gain access in the event of a fire. This area also mitigates the risk of a structure fire leading to a wildfire.

There need to be very few flammable materials in these areas, as access to the structure is critical during a fire event.

Ideally, trees and shrubs in this area should be deciduous and be easy to rake under when the leaves drop. Plants like juniper, which are very flammable, should never be found in zone one.

Learn more about zones >>

If those favorite trees are in a tight growing group and within the first 30 feet from the structure some will almost definitely have to be removed.

Helping us to identify your favorite tree(s) is one of the best starting points to getting your fire mitigation done and making it something you can live with.

Knowing what trees are of high value allows us to work on preserving them by cutting away the smaller trees and trimming the large ones to be more resistant to a wildfire.

See some of our favorite Colorado trees >>

Fire mitigation is something that should be addressed all the time.

It’s also something that in many forests can’t be done all at once.

There have been about 120 years of fire suppression in our area. Before we put out as many fires as possible, the area had a regularly occurring fire cycle. That fire cycle is what mitigated the fuels. Now we have to mechanically replicate that regularly occurring fire by removing the fuels.

We have had homeowners with larger lots do a bit every year since the mid-1990’s when fire mitigation became such an important topic. Before that, we called it “Forest health thinning” and did it more for aesthetics and disease resistance.

You’ll find that doing mitigation will help with many forest problems, not just fire. The feedback we receive is positive from clients. They see more diversity of wildflowers and wildlife as we return the forest to a more natural state.

Fire Mitigation is an ongoing project.

Because the fuels in your forest grow, add on and leave behind biomass every year, these need to be dealt with often.

There used to be a regularly occurring fire cycle in our area. This was like the garbage company coming regularly to deal with the forests waste. Our fire suppression efforts made the garbage company not come. What would your house look like if you quit taking out the trash?

In order to create a more defensible, mitigated space in your outdoor living area we like to have your input.

Things like:

• what are your favorite trees?
• which trees block a bad view (like a neighbors shed)?,\
• what trees do you enjoy seeing from the home?

These are all going to help us preserve the trees you want to keep. We’ll also assess which trees may have a disease or a hazard so that these are removed during your mitigation work.

Many properties will need several different sessions of work in order to not thin the stand too quickly, making it susceptible to wind-throw and disease.

Because it is a difficult and involved process to set up a plan, the time involved requires us to charge for that time. You’ll be happier with this process in the end!

Request an Estimate for Fire Mitigation >>

Wildfire risk has increased in Colorado and other parts of the U.S. 

You can read our blog post on why wildfire risk is increasing in order to:

• learn why wildfires are becoming more of a problem,
• assess the wildfire risk in our area,
• understand how it impacts your home or business insurance, and
• peruse a handy list and description of the best local resources for wildfire preparedness, mitigation, and assistance.

Risk of wildfires is constant in the Evergreen, CO area. We've put together a list of wildfire resources to help you learn more about fire mitigation in our area.