COLORADO SPRINGS – We’ve seen plenty of snow already this year, but not enough to eliminate our risk of fire danger.
This has been a great year for snow totals! This season Colorado Springs has had 25.4 inches of snow. Last year at this time we’d received 13.4 inches. That’s according to the National Weather Service.
In Pueblo, we’ve had 17 inches of snow this year. Last year, Pueblo had 13.7 inches at this time. Get this – both of these totals are still below normal.
When it comes to fire danger, don’t let the wet weather fool you. Grass and fine fuel are at a high risk right now, which means grass fires could pose a big problem.
“We have a 365 day a year fire season,” said the Program Administrator of CSFD’s Wildfire Mitigation Section Jeremy Taylor.
“Even when there’s snow on the ground, believe it or not we still have grass fires,” Taylor continued. “In the city, some of our worst and most detrimental grass fires actually occurred in our winter months with snow on the ground.”
The Wildland Urban Interface is at an especially high risk. That’s an area of about 50 miles and 35,000 homes. It’s just west of I-25, where the homes and forest mix together. Its’ at heightened risk because of the fuels, topography and vegetation.
Don’t let moisture be misguiding, instead capitalize on it! It’s time to prune back trees and clean up your property.
Contact Colorado Springs Fire Department to start your risk reduction. They offer free assessments and recommendations.
