‘First of its kind’: Fire department to contract fire mitigation work on federal forest land

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) says it will begin contracting fire mitigation work on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service in a "first of its kind" partnership.

CSFD says the new program is unique to the state of Colorado.

A spokesperson for CSFD says the department will do some of the mitigation work itself, and will also contract other organizations to do some of the work. But, bottom line, the department will be able to manage mitigation on federal land, which they say is usually a difficult thing for the local department to do.

According to CSFD, Colorado Springs' wildland-urban interface (where human development meets undeveloped wildland) spans roughly 32,600 acres.

The city's wildland-urban interface is one of the largest in Colorado, the CSFD says. The department says close to 25% of the city's population lives in the wildland-urban interface.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department says that this year, residents can expect to see the removal of fire-prone vegetation along some of the wildland areas, mostly by roadways.

"The work will be completed using a multitude of small and large machines, including masticators, harvesters, forwarders, skidders, brush hogs, mowers, and chippers, as well as chainsaws, brush saws, and non-motorized hand tools," said the department in a release.

CSFD says work will begin next month along Old Stage Road to Gold Camp Road. Work is expected to be completed by November 2026.

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