Colorado HOAs partner with Castle Rock Fire: "Creating balance between beauty and fire"

In the wake of fires in other parts of the state, the Castle Rock Fire Department is teaching residents and homeowners associations to be proactive and create defensible space in their own communities.

Castle Rock fire crews worked on the Alexander Mountain, Stone Canyon Fire and Quarry Fire in Colorado. And now, firefighters from the department are in California, fighting fires there.

"That interactive cooperation not only within the state for mutual aid but also within the western United States helps us reciprocate resources. So when other states are burning, we provide those resources; when we're burning, they provide those resources back to us," said Castle Rock Fire Marshal Bart Chambers.

But even as they lend help to other agencies, Castle Rock is taking steps to mitigate fire in their own community.

One way they do so is by partnering with goats. Right now, you can find goats grazing and reducing fuels in the Metzler Family Open Space. The goats, provided by Goat Green LLC, will move to the Woodlands Bowl on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Another way is through the FireWise USA program, which outlines how to create defensible space within wildfire urban interface areas. Participating HOAs receive materials and resources on actions to start and maintain FireWise status in their community.

"We're in the middle of Castle Rock but we look like Colorado," said Escavera HOA member and FireWise Committee Chair Mary McDonald.

McDonald is drawn to the pine trees that fill her neighborhood, but so is fire.

"It also makes it very scary, right, the scrub oak and the pine trees," said McDonald.

It's why she joined her HOA's FireWise Committee and is working with the Castle Rock Fire Department to protect the community she loves.

With the department's help, Escavera was accepted into the FireWise program earlier this year.

"This is our application," said McDonald, indicating a thick stack of papers.

That designation makes it easier for homeowners to get insurance and helped the HOA receive a grant from Douglas County, covering around $30,000 in fire mitigation efforts.

"Our annual budget as an HOA is about $15,000, so grants like this really help us in getting that defensible space that we need in our open space and encouraging our residents," said McDonald.

Castle Rock Fire recommends removing flammable materials within 30 feet of homes, keeping roofs and gutters clear of debris, installing non-combustible surfaces near homes, using low-growing plants and mowing lawns to 4 inches, and removing shrubs and trees within 5 feet of structures.

"The basics: clear around that 5-foot perimeter of your home. Take it to rock or bare mineral soil," said Chambers.

The HOA follows those directions to create defensible space on community property.

"This is our open space here, so we're constantly hiking and looking at that area to see what needs to be done," said McDonald, "we go ahead and we kinda trim through, we keep some of the scrub oak and we create islands."

The HOA also helps educate neighbors to do the same on their land.

"It's a lot of emails. You know, we did signs. It's kind of grassroots, our committee talking to their neighbors and telling them, 'Hey, it's time to look at that scrub oak; it's really too close to the house,'" said McDonald.

In June, the HOA collected over 116 yards of slash removed by neighbors from their own yards.

Chambers says the mitigation efforts aren't one-and-done, but something communities should make a way of life.

"This is a marathon, not a sprint," Chambers said. "Though we see global change for this climate, we also see people moving into the wildland. So again, we're living with fire in areas that have burned for decades. Take that time to be fire-wise, get that clearance and be fire-safe."

After all, it comes with the territory.

"It's just a way of creating balance between beauty and being smart about fire," said McDonald.

If your community is interested in becoming part of the program, sign up at crgov.com/WildfireSafety.