Survey of Colorado fire departments shows need for more funding, training and gear, especially in rural departments
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Every two years, a survey goes out to every fire department in the state of Colorado. Those surveys are collected and compiled into the Colorado Fire Service Needs Assessment.
This year, fire departments showed a need for more funding, training and gear.
READ THE FULL 2024 FIRE SERVICE NEEDS ASSESSMENT
"The biggest thing that we saw that was different is a request for a lot more training in dealing with wildland-urban interface fires," Lisa Pine with the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (CDFPC) told KRDO13.
122 of the 300-plus fire departments responded to the 2026 survey. Two-thirds of those who responded said their current funding level wasn't enough to cover all departmental operations.
"There's a financial strain on the fire departments," Pine said.
The answer to where more money for fire departments will come from isn't easy to find. Pine says a lot of fire departments are primarily funded by property taxes. In the past years, elected officials have worked, and continue to work, to lower property taxes.
"Federal grants are not as easy to get as they used to be. There's not a lot of money at the state level right now for grants," Pine said.
The funding issue hits even harder at volunteer departments. The issues portrayed in the survey results aren't pretty.
"I think that's what we saw in this report is they're having issues assembling crews, full crews to go on calls. They're having issues funding all of the necessary equipment to the height, to the level that is protective of their firefighters," Pine said.
There's no easy solution for that either.
"I'm not going to lie. That's probably not in the cards immediately. So we really need to look at, 'What are those immediate actions we can take to help them,'" Pine said.
Looking to the future, Pine says there are people on the state level working to address the problems facing rural fire departments in the state. She says the fire commission is working on a proposal and the CDFPC is looking at ways they can help with training and more in fire departments.
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