Wildland-Urban Interface Ground Truthing Update

Blue Mountain Environmental completed the investigation as planned and has submitted a report of the wildfire fuels assessment findings. There are differences in this investigation as compared with the Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment. Expansive areas mapped as Moderate Load, Dry-Climate Grass-Shrub (GS2 122) in the Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment Fuels Map for Broomfield were reclassified as Short Grass Low Load (GR1) in this assessment. GR1 is a lower fuel load both in terms of height and weight per acre than GS2 122. However, to create a local Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) map for review by the Wildfire Resiliency Code Board (WRCB), this information will need to be incorporated into the WRCB’s model. The WRCB is currently developing a model tool (widget) that will allow local agencies to enter their ground-truthing data. We are waiting for that tool to be released before moving forward.

The City plans to host a community meeting in early 2026 to review the results of the pilot project. Ideally, we would have the model widget and an updated map of the Wilcox area to share at the time of that meeting. For this reason, a date for the community meeting has not yet been set, but is still anticipated to be in early 2026.