Colorado Springs Fire Department hosts third ‘Living With Wildfire’ town hall meeting Wednesday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The area's rainy spell has significantly reduced the wildfire risk that was high earlier this spring, and likely has most people far less concerned about it.

"When there's smoke in the air, everyone's thinking about it," a firefighter said Wednesday. "Right now, there's no smoke in the air and wildfires are far from people's minds."

Still, the city's fire department wants to emphasize that wildfire danger can quickly rise within days after dry weather arrives -- which is why the department hosted its third town hall meeting, Living With Wildfire,Wednesday evening at the Masonic Center on Panorama Drive.

Around 20 people attended the 90-minute meeting, which allows the public to lean more about wildfires and how to prepare for and prevent them.

The recent rainy weather is a mixed blessing because it stimulates growth in grasses and other vegetation that can quickly dry out and become potential fuel for fires.

Yet because of wet conditions, people can't easily get outside to mitigate -- remove that excess vegetation -- by mowing and trimming.

As recently as March, however, extremely dry weather was a factor in numerous fires in the city and elsewhere across southern Colorado.

Also, as the city grows and more development occurs, residents are demanding that more planning and thought be put into evacuation routes and emergency alert systems.

Wednesday's town hall was designed to attract residents from the southwest side of town, spanning Skyway to the north and Broadway Bluffs to the south -- an area considered by firefighters to be at greatest risk for a major wildfire.

The Masonic Center is near the Mountain Shadows neighborhood, where the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire burned nearly 350 homes and killed two people; June is also the tenth anniversary of the 2013 Black Forest Fire -- which destroyed more than 500 homes and killed two people -- and the 2013 Royal Gorge Fire that burned 48 of its 52 structures.

Those fires should be all the proof and reminder anyone needs of how deadly wildfires can be.