Colorado Springs – The last time a catastrophic wildland fire swept through the foothills of Colorado Springs, nine people died, 50 were injured and 109 Fort Carson buildings were damaged or destroyed.
The January 1950 catastrophe began when a fire to clear vegetation for a golf course at the Broadmoor Hotel raced out of control. Then, there were few homes in the foothills.
Today, there are more than 32,000 properties from NORAD to the Air Force Academy in heavily vegetated areas mixed with scrub oak, ponderosa pine and aspen.
And in its recently released “State of the Rockies Report Card,” Colorado College lists El Paso County at No. 10 for fire risk in the eight-state Rocky Mountain West.
“The way we look at it, it’s a matter of how much? How big is the fire going to be? How catastrophic is it going to be?” said Christina Randall, a wildland risk coordinator for Colorado Springs.
In the early 1900s, the land along the city’s foothills was dotted with about 30 trees per acre compared with 150 to 300 trees per acre today.
Nationally, the West and Southeast face an increased wildfire risk because of ongoing drought and an expected hotter-than-average summer, the National Interagency Fire Center reported Tuesday.
In the Southeast, dry conditions continue in Florida, southern Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Much of Nevada, western Utah and southern Idaho could be in for an early and prolonged grassland fire season, the center said.
Other areas with an increased fire risk are the southern two-thirds of Arizona, southern New Mexico, western Texas and Southern California.
The only areas with below-normal danger include small portions of northeast New Mexico and southeast Colorado, and portions of the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.
In El Paso County, the five-star Broadmoor is in the high-risk area as well as neighborhoods such as Stratton Preserve that feature homes selling for $1 million to $3 million.
Should a fire erupt, city resources would be taxed and quickly overcome. The city has 144 firefighters who can fight interagency wildfires, has purchased four-wheel-drive firetrucks to negotiate hilly terrain, and has designated wildland fire stations near the foothills.
“We tell people, ‘You’ll be lucky if you have an engine on your block,”‘ Randall said.
The city posts the risk for properties in the danger zone on a website called FireWise.com, offers fire-mitigation advice and brings wood chippers into neighborhoods so homeowners can clear dried-out or dead trees and brush. The city also cuts trees and brush from densely vegetated parks to create buffer zones.
“We’ve seen a real turnabout in people’s attitudes and willingness to do mitigation work,” Randall said.
Colorado College also found areas near Frisco, Breckenridge and the Vail Valley are at significant risk because of pine beetle damage to trees.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
