Wildfire risk is on everyone's mind

Hair is flying these days, but lately it’s because of static electricity instead of wind. In Boulder County last Wednesday, the humidity was as low as 9% in North Boulder and 11% in other areas.

Posts on social media were calling on the community to be watchful because the lack of moisture and relative low humidity denote very dry air. Dry air creates the static electricity that can be seen around the community. Even pet’s fur and horse’s tails were creating halos of static last week.

Then, a grass fire broke out near the Calwood burn scar area on Thursday, Oct. 20. Named the Lakeridge Trail fire, it burned 19 acres. Four homeowners were evacuated and roads were closed as a precaution. Although the fire was 100% contained later the same day, fire danger and the fear of new fires is at an all time high.

Wildfire risk and how to mitigate that risk is top of mind for everyone and requires little introduction. The last three years have been history-making because of the devastation created by four of the top five largest wildfires in the state.

Most recently for our community in Boulder County, the Calwood Fire burned 20 homes in 2020, and last December, the Marshall Fire burned 1,084 homes and seven businesses.

Boulder County ballot measure 1A for wildfire mitigation concerns wildfire risk mitigation. Ballot measure 1B to fund wildfire response is also on the ballot.

Boulder County is asking for a 0.1% sales tax on three separate items. Two of those issues would impose a new tax, while the third would continue a tax that is set to expire in two years.

Those tax initiatives, if passed, would mean a 0.2% sales tax increase over the current rate, increasing sales tax within the City of Boulder to 9.045% (The current Boulder rate of 8.845% consists of 2.9% state, 3.86% city, 0.985% county, and 1.1% RTD. The current Niwot rate of 5.985% substitutes a 1% LID tax for the 3.86% city tax.) It is important to note that if passed, all three of these taxes will be permanent, although the 0.1% tax for wildfire response (1B) would drop to 0.05% in 2028.

The tax proposal initiatives would fund the following: County-wide wildfire mitigation (1A); Rural Emergency services for wildland firefighter response (1B) and transportation (1C). The transportation tax is currently in effect, but is scheduled to expire in June 2024. (See Oct. 12 Left Hand Valley Courier article for more information.)

According to Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, ballot issue 1A will fund fire mitigation and 1B will fund fire response.

Arguments against 1A:

No comments were filed in time for the TABOR booklet, but some opponents have argued against approval, saying Boulder County revenues have risen 27% from 2019 to 2022, and the Commissioners have not explained why the actions and infrastructure proposed in these three ballot measures cannot be paid for from the $117,000,000 in increased revenues going to the county this year that were not available in 2019.

Arguments for 1A:

The TABOR booklet cites several arguments in support of the issue, including that wildfire mitigation works and makes financial sense in the long run, and that the tax provides the opportunity to extend wildfire mitigation efforts to the plains.

Boulder County Commissioner Matt Jones, a former wildland firefighter, is on record as saying, “Fire risk is increasing, so should prevention.” Prevention efforts keep firefighters safer and buy them more time to battle blazes. Jones said the tax proposal would “extend the Wildfire Partners Program to residents on the eastern side of the County, which helps homeowners make their homes more fire resistant.”

Jones described other uses for the increase in tax monies, “It will also help protect water supplies and create more resilient forests and grasslands.” And finally, according to Jones, the County should be more proactive and increase the number of prescribed burns and thin forest areas in Boulder County.

Arguments against 1B:

No comments were filed in time for the TABOR booklet.

Arguments for 1B:

The TABOR booklet says that 1B (1) would fund a County-owned facility that would house what is now an all-volunteer search and rescue organization, whose existing building must be replaced, and would provide additional support for operating and capital expenses for rescue organizations; (2) would help fund a wide range of capital and operating expenses for under-funded mountain and rural fire districts; (3) would provide funds that are needed to enable ambulance service to low population areas where the economics are not sustainable for private ambulance companies; and (4) would provide trail and trailhead safety services to address the vastly increased use of open space properties.

Proponents said, “Much of the ballot measure concerns expenses that the County

must pay. It must rescue people. It must provide ambulance service to remote areas. Defeating the ballot measure will not change the fact that the County must provide these services. It would just make it harder to fund these services.”

“Boulder County benefits from having volunteer search and rescue organizations perform the Sheriff’s legally-required backcountry search and rescue function. Search and rescue volunteers contribute over 15,000 hours a year and handle approximately 200 rescues per year, and those needs continue to grow.… The current search and rescue building is a 1960s auto repair shop that can’t handle the growing needs for operations, training, equipment storage, and outdoor safety education. The new building will be right-sized, designed for search and rescue, and energy-efficient. The proposed tax will fund construction of this building. The measure drops from 0.1% to 0.05% after five years, by which time the new search-and-rescue building will have been completed.”

“We all benefit from having strong fire protection throughout the County. For fire districts in mountain and other rural areas, the areas they cover are large and fire-prone, but their property tax base of residents is small. These districts also help with fires on federal and state land, but they receive no property taxes on such lands. This tax measure helps ensure that the beneficiaries of the work of these fire districts — which is all of us — help pay for it, even if we live in a city.”