Where are Colorado's borrowed firefighters and how do we decide if we lend them out for wildfires or not?

As wildfires continue to rage across Colorado and the western United States, local fire departments are facing a delicate balancing act. With calls for assistance pouring in from neighboring areas, departments like the Red White and Blue Fire District, which covers Breckenridge, must decide how many firefighters to send out while maintaining adequate coverage for their own communities.

Currently, Red White and Blue is dealing with a reduced number of firefighters available for their own shifts due to injuries, therefore limiting their ability to offer assistance. Despite this, the department is working to help out where possible. A recent example is the Alexander Mountain Fire, where a three-person wildland fire crew was deployed for 72 hours. While firefighting efforts are ongoing, the decision to pull back the crew instead of extending the deployment for two weeks was made with the safety of the local community in mind.

"What we don't want to do is create exhaustion with our own staff and get to a point where we can't staff our resources," Red White and Blue Fire Chief Drew Hoehn emphasized. "Everybody understands that if you have an incident come up in your jurisdiction, you always have the right to bring those resources home."

That doesn't mean firefighters are twiddling their thumbs while fires burn close to homes only a few hours away. Hoehn explained it's up to him to manage resources because every firefighter is "chomping at the bit" to get out on any fire they can and help save homes and even lives if it comes to that. 

Sending firefighters to assist with out-of-state fires also presents challenges. While financial compensation is provided to the home station, Hoehn said it often doesn't end up making them any money. However, the experience gained by firefighters on these larger-scale incidents is invaluable.

"They're gaining that experience and exposure of major incidents so that when they come back here and if we have an incident of that type, they've seen it before," Hoehn said.

Ultimately, Hoehn said the safety of the local community is the top priority. As fire danger continues to grow across the state due to hot temperatures and dry conditions, local pressures from the community heat up too. Should a significant fire break out within the district, Red White and Blue needs fresh crews ready to go, not firefighters exhausted from battling blazes across the state or even out of state.

"If we're at very high or extreme on the Smokey (Bear) sign, or if we have fire restrictions in place, the likelihood of us sending resources out of our state become less," Hoehn said. "We look at our ability to cover our own liabilities."

While Hoehn said he understands this sounds selfish, he wants everyone to know the second they can safely send firefighters back out on the other Colorado wildfires, they will consider that option again.