01/12/2025
In the wake of the shocking speed and magnitude of destruction caused by the wildfires in California, please take a moment to consider how you and your family can prepare for future wildfires affecting Huerfano County.
Code Red: Code Red will send notifications about current or possible emergencies, including evacuation notices. Call our non-emergency dispatch line at (719) 738-1044 to register for Code Red. Please consider registering all cell phones (and your landline if you have one) in your household for Code Red alerts.
Make a Plan: If the call to evacuate from a wildfire comes, do you know where you’ll go and what to take with you? Do you have a plan for your pets, large animals or livestock? Working with your household to develop an evacuation plan can help streamline the process of evacuation and answer these questions before you’re trying to escape a dangerous situation. The Huerfano County Office of Emergency Management has developed a Personal Emergency Preparedness Workbook that can help you and your loved ones put together an effective evacuation plan. You can find an electronic copy of the Personal Emergency Preparedness Workbook on the Huerfano County website. Physical copies are available at the County building: 401 Main Street, Walsenburg, CO 81089
Emergency Preparedness Workbook
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JtctrvkcKWyVNw15D7Xkh9Rz-alK9i7w/view
Home Hardening and the Home Ignition Zone: Wildfires can quickly outgrow the number of people available to fight them, even with support from state and federal agencies. By “hardening your home” (using fire resistant materials and construction strategies) and improving your “Home Ignition Zone” (removing or reducing flammable materials near your home); you can improve the chances that your home can “stand alone” through a wildfire without the support of firefighting personnel.
Colorado State Forest Service “The Home Ignition Zone”
https://gilpin.extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2021/06/Home-Ignition-Zone-Guide-CSFS.pdf
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) “My Personal Wildfire Action Guide”
https://www.iafc.org/docs/default-source/pdf/rsg-eag.pdf?sfvrsn=d1316f0c_20
Organize with your neighbors and community: Talk with your neighbors about forming a coordinated, local response to wildfire risk. Your neighborhoods could look into becoming Firewise USA sites or joining the Spanish Peaks Alliance for Wildfire Protection’s Neighborhood Ambassador program. Huerfano County is in the beginning stages of writing a county wide Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Please look forward to attending community outreach sessions during this plan’s creation.
Become a Firewise USA Site
https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire/firewise-usa/become-a-firewise-usa-site
SPAWP Neighborhood Ambassador Program
https://spawp.org/neighborhood-ambassador-program/
Know your FIre Protection District: Huerfano County is served by three volunteer firefighting districts: Huerfano Fire Protection District, Upper Huerfano Fire Protection District and La Veta Fire Protection District. Familiarize yourself with which fire district your home is located in. Being volunteer agencies; consider if you are able to donate your time as a volunteer or offer support to the fire district in other ways.
Huerfano County Fire Districts
https://huerfano.us/fire-districts/
Wildfire is a part of the ecology of the Rocky Mountain West. We see them in our state and region every year and eventually we will see one in Huerfano County again. The steps you take today help to fight the wildfires of the future and make sure that your family and property is protected.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Huerfano Mitigation with the Office of Emergency Management.
OFFICE: (719) 738 3000 EXT. 122
EMAIL: [email protected]
