Welcome to another edition of our Evergreen Fire/Rescue Wildland Division Newsletter, One Bad Day. In this month’s newsletter:

• Monthly Action Focus: Get Involved! 
• More Great Options for Action: EFR Home Assessments, Evergreen Wildfire Ambassador Program  
• Save the Date: Upcoming Educational Events full of actionable, doable recommendations including the presentation series Rooted in Resilience: A Forestry Deep Dive, Evacuation Workshop and the HOA Online Workshop.   
• Upcoming Projects & Community Spotlight Events: The Woods, County Road 73 S-Curves  

For those who are new to this Newsletter, please see our kickoff Newsletter HERE to learn more about why we are committed to mitigating the outcome of one bad day.

Thank YOU so much for all that you do in helping prevent that one bad day. 

What Can We Do Right Now?

Monthly Action Focus:

Get Involved!  

2026 MITIGATION SEASON KICKOFF EVENT  

On Sunday, February 22, EFR hosted the annual Mitigation Season Kickoff Event. The event was a fantastic opportunity for the EFR Wildland Mitigation Team to engage and collaborate with all the dedicated Ambassadors, Ambassador Team Members, HOA Partners, and supportive community members. Ambassador Teams came together to share their enthusiasm, ideas, and experience to begin planning the amazing educational programs, outreach events, and mitigation projects that will help reduce wildfire risk throughout our community.  

Want to take another step, move beyond your own property and inspire and organize more mitigation work to happen in your neighborhood? The Evergreen Wildfire Ambassador Program might be for you!

What is the Evergreen Wildfire Ambassador Team?

Partnering with Evergreen Fire/Rescue (EFR), the Evergreen Wildfire Ambassador Program is a community-driven program designed to help residents and landowners prepare for wildfire.

The mission of the Evergreen Wildfire Ambassador Program is to help create community-wide wildfire preparedness by fostering neighborhoods that are self-sufficient, engaged, and sustainably adapted to living with wildfire. Ambassadors and their teammates serve as the core of the program.

What is an Ambassador?

Acting as a volunteer liaison between EFR and our residents, Ambassadors and their teammates help property owners understand wildfire risks to their families and their properties, connect them to resources available to reduce that risk, and assist in the planning of fire mitigation projects and events. 

What next steps can I take?

Email ambassadorspecialist@evergreenfirerescue.com to learn more about helping your Neighborhood Ambassador Team. You can also visit the Community Wildfire Ambassador site to start learning more right now.

More Great Options for Action

Sign up for Lookout Alert Notifications

Lookout Alert powered by Smart911 is Jefferson and Clear Creek County’s official emergency notification system. It provides time-sensitive information that may require immediate action, such as evacuations and other urgent public safety incidents. Residents are encouraged to confirm their contact information, download the Smart911 app, update their Safety Profile, and review their notification preferences to ensure they receive alerts when it matters most.

1. Make sure contact information is current

Residents should log in and confirm their cell phone numbers, email addresses, and physical address are accurate. Outdated information is one of the most common reasons alerts are missed.

2. Create or update a Smart911 Safety Profile

A Safety Profile allows residents to share important details such as medical needs, mobility concerns, pets, gate codes, or emergency contacts. This information can be made available to 911 and responders during an emergency.

3. Download the Smart911 app

Cell phone users can download the Smart911 app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app allows residents to:

• Receive alerts directly on their smartphone

• Manage and update their Safety Profile

• Adjust notification preferences

• Set location-based alerts (home, work, school, etc.)

Preferences can be changed at any time within the app or online.

4. Understand what types of alerts are sent

Lookout Alert powered by Smart911 is used for time-sensitive public safety information such as evacuations, law enforcement activity, and major road closures.

5. Do not opt out of emergency notifications

If someone unsubscribes accidentally, they can re-subscribe. It is important they understand opting out may prevent them from receiving critical life-safety information.

To Sign up for Lookout Alert, use the QR Code here, or click on this link: https://www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/reg.action?pa=LookoutAlert

Sign Up for a Free Evergreen Fire/Rescue Defensible Space Inspection

A qualified Evergreen Fire/Rescue Mitigation Specialist can conduct a free home assessment with you to provide a report of recommendations to help reduce wildfire risk. These recommendations include the vegetation around your home (defensible space) as well as vulnerabilities of your home and structures (home hardening) on your property.

Recommendations are solely to help you, the homeowner, better understand how you can reduce the risk of wildfire to your home.

Within 48 hours of your EFR Home Assessment, you will receive an easy to use, interactive report customized to your property. Actions in the report are prioritized by risk, with property specific detail which helps to drive resident engagement. These home assessments provide recommendations to homeowners following the Colorado State Forest Service Home Ignition Zone Guidelines.

To sign up for your free EFR Home Assessment please follow THIS LINK to enter your address and schedule online or you can email mitigation@evergreenfirerescue.com.

Chipping Program is Now Open

Registration for the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Chipping program is now open! The program is only available to residents within the Evergreen Fire Protection District and will run from May 1 – October 15. Registration and details on the program perimeters, restrictions and costs are available at EFR Wildland Division - Chipping & Slash.

Upcoming Educational Events

Rooted in Resilience: A Forestry Deep Dive 

Evergreen Fire/Rescue Wildland Division presents an online five-part speaker series, taking a deeper dive into our forested environment. A healthy forest is a fire-resilient forest. Hear from experts in the foothills and Colorado forestry and environmental science fields. 

Co-Benefits of Fuel & Restoration Treatments 

Presenter: Caden Chamberlain, Senior Forest and Fire Ecology Research Associate, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute 

Monday, March 9, 6-7 p.m. 

I will discuss recent empirical research from across the western US exploring the effects of fuel reduction and restoration treatments on outcomes including burn severity, infrastructure survival, containment success, landscape resilience, and wildlife habitat. 

Zoom Link

Aspen as a Green Fuel Break: Opportunities & Challenges 

Presenter: Max Cook, Senior Wildfire Analyst and Research Associate, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute 

Monday, March 16, 6-7 p.m. 

Aspen trees have long been considered less flammable than conifers, especially across the intermountain West. Still, they do burn when the conditions align. This presentation will highlight the recent science on fire behavior in aspen forests and focus on the opportunities and challenges associated with using targeted aspen management to create and maintain green fuel breaks. 

Zoom Link

HOA Online Workshop 

Monday, March 30, 6-7:30 p.m. 

Evergreen Fire Rescue’s Wildland Division Mitigation Team will provide an overview of the wildfire mitigation and preparedness resources available to HOAs, including defensible space guidance, home assessments, and community support tools to help reduce wildfire risk.

Zoom Link

Evacuation Workshop

April 12 ~ 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

New Location – Center Stage, 27608 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen CO 80439

Join Members of the EFR Wildland Team and community partners to learn how to be prepared in the event of a wildfire evacuation. 

Helpful Resource – Learning at your Leisure – Film and Toolkit

Don’t have time to make a presentation? Below is information about a helpful film and toolkit to learn more. Your Wildland Mitigation Team recommends this as a helpful watch.

Film Title: Fire Lives Here 

Description: Fire is a natural and important force in Colorado. The new film Fire Lives

Here explores the relationship between people, forest, and fire. Filmed over two years across Colorado’s Front Range, the film showcases the year-round efforts of the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative working together to change wildfire outcomes. Learn how experts and community partners work together to plan and carry out forest treatments—and how these efforts influence the way wildfires behave on the landscape.

Directed by Aaron Colussi and Left of Frame Pictures

Watch it now on PBS: Fire Lives Here

Toolkit

Learn about the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative

Upcoming Projects

Great things are happening across the community regarding mitigation. If you have questions, please reach out to mitigation@evergreenfirerescue.com.

The Woods

EFR Wildland Division will be working with the Woods HOA for a 4.2-acre mitigation project.

S-Curves on Jeffco Road 73 

Roadside mitigation work will be ongoing on the S-Curves of County Road 73 south of Brook Forest.  

Resident Spotlight

Scott and Janie Hammond

We moved to Evergreen more than 40 years ago and we always felt responsible for taking good care of our land. As city folks, we did not know much about land management. Over time, we learned about the hazards of fire and the benefits of fire mitigation and took steps to control what we could. We can’t stop natural and accidental fires, but at least, we could do some things to reduce the chances of losing our home and property. For us, mitigation wasn’t just the right thing to do—it was the smart thing to do, both for our family and for our neighbors.

We built our house in 1984 on five acres. Back then, there was not much awareness around fire mitigation or home hardening. The Hayman Fire sure got our attention. Soon after, we began seeing clearer guidance from state authorities and we realized we had a lot of work to do.

Rather than trying to do everything at once, we treated it as a long-term project with a dedicated annual budget. We tackled it in stages, starting with the recommended perimeter zones. We initially cleared the first 5 feet surrounding our house and put in a rock border. During the next year or two, we high-skirted, thinned and spaced the trees in the 5-to-30-foot perimeter according to recommendations. For the 30-to-100-foot perimeter, we divided the property into quadrants and addressed one section at a time over several years. Over the decades, we had to deal with several pine beetle infestations. Removing infected and dead trees became part of our fire mitigation plan.

As our house aged and we learned more about home hardening, we made upgrades when the timing made sense. For example, when we replaced siding, we put up Hardy cement board, which had the added benefit of discouraging woodpeckers. When we replaced the roof for hail damage, we upgraded to high fire-resistant asphalt shingles and added leaf guards to our gutters.

We took advantage of every free fire mitigation inspection that we could find to guide our priorities. After 25 years of taking consistent steps every year, all of a sudden, our property is as protected as we can reasonably make it, and the process was not too painful being spaced out.

Scott and Janie’s Advice to Homeowners:

• Take responsibility to be a good steward of your land.
• Get educated. An inspection from EFR is a great place to start.
• Set long-term goals, prioritize, and break the work into realistic steps over time.
• Build an annual fire mitigation budget.
• Take advantage of the state tax deduction for fire mitigation.
• Talk to your neighbors about what you’re doing and encourage them to do the same.

Thank you Scott and Janie for all the amazing mitigation work that you have completed and for being an inspiration for the community!

Have more questions about what else you can do to prevent one bad day?

Contact the Evergreen Fire/Rescue Wildland Division

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ONE BAD DAY is the official public newsletter for Evergreen Fire/Rescue's Wildland Division for sharing information with our community members.