By James Burky
Daily Camera
BOULDER, Colo. — Twelve western Boulder neighborhoods are at the highest risk of wildfire ignition. The city of Boulder hopes to harden at least 20% of homes in those neighborhoods by 2030.
The city divides up the western edge of Boulder into three risk categories: highest, very high and high. To determine those risks, the city considered an area’s present wildfire risk, wildfire history and buildings’ proximity to areas full of wildfire fuel (i.e., open space). The areas were then scored on a formula.
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According to a city map, the “highest risk” neighborhoods are Wonderland Hills, Knollwood Red Rocks, Flagstaff-University Hill, Devil’s Thumb-Shanahan Ridge. The “very high” risk neighborhoods are Sanitas, Chautauqua, East Chautauqua and the area around the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Shanahan Ranch, North Wonderland, Northbriar and Dakota Ridge — four neighborhoods that bookend the areas of the highest wildfire risk — are in the “high” category, the lowest of the three. Those neighborhoods are part of the highest-priority areas of the Wildland Urban Interface, the part of Boulder where undeveloped areas at high risk of wildfire ignition bleed into urban developed areas.
City staff briefed the Boulder City Council on the wildfire hardening efforts during the council’s Oct. 22 virtual study session.
City Councilmember Matt Benjamin questioned why the city’s goal was to have only 20% of homes in these areas hardened by 2030.
“I know in a voluntary space, we’re going to be living with small numbers (unless) we do something different,” Benjamin said.
Currently, homeowners harden their houses at their own expense, though city leaders have floated ideas of offering financial assistance to spur more wildfire hardening.
Whether to require wildfire hardening measures on the highest risk homes in the WUI or to keep it voluntary has been a persistent question in Boulder.
For the time being, the city’s goals hinge on voluntary participation.
“There’s no reason we couldn’t upgrade some of those targets, but it depends a little bit on what our experience starts to be,” Michael Calderazzo, the fire chief for Boulder, said in response to Benjamin. “We’ve set the targets where they are; that isn’t the target that stops us. If we can tell that we’re going to be able to change and adjust and move upward, then that is the intent.”
The city and wildfire hardening advocates are pushing for homeowners to have detailed home assessments to calculate what they need to do to meet wildfire hardiness. Per council presentation, 55% of homes in the WUI priority areas will receive a detailed home assessment by 2030.
Taking those measures could mean removing juniper plants from a property or building a defensible space (no wildfire fuel, so rocks instead of plants) 5 feet between a yard and a home.
The city is anticipating spending up to about $10.25 million annually for wildfire hardening programs. That includes up to $2 million annually on grazing, mowing or forestry work to reduce wildfire fuel in the city; and up to $2 million on wildland firefighter training, equipment and operations, according to a memo to council.
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