The Weber Fire sparked up outside Mancos in June 2012, burning more than 10,000 acres. That same year the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs destroyed  more than 350 homes and forced 32,000 residents to flee the flames./File photo by Steve Eginoire

In the hot seat

La Plata County’s fire-funding formula gets the axe

by Tracy Chamberlin

The moment the flicker becomes a flame, none of it matters.

Things like financial capabilities exceptions, unified command structures and appropriate cost-sharing principles are not on the forefront of residents’ minds when they’re close enough to feel the heat.

But, those are the very issues county, state and federal agencies are tasked with tackling before the fires burn. This year, however, not all of those issues have been worked out, leaving La Plata County in the hot seat.

“Given the right circumstances, the County (could be forced) to continue managing a wildland fire that exceeds our actual capabilities but nevertheless is not complex enough to warrant … assistance,” the county said in a letter to Paul Cooke, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

During negotiations with Cooke and the DFPC on the 2014 Annual Operation Plan for dealing with wildland fires, the two became deadlocked over a section referred to as the “financial capabilities exceptions.”

Without this clause, the county could be required to spend more money fighting a wildfire than it budgeted for.

In the 2014 budget, the County included $250,000 for fire management and suppression. Once that amount of money has been spent, the county could be “limited, if not prohibited, in the payment of any additional sums,” according to the letter.

For Cooke and the DFPC, they don’t have the authority to agree to cover costs beyond what the county allots in its annual budget.

“Under the current statutory framework, I have no authority to obligate the State to automatically assume responsibility for all wildfires once an annual financial threshold is reached,” Cooke explained in an email.

When a wildfire becomes too much for a local municipality, the state will step in and help. The point at which the state would step in is something determined by interpretations of the word “capabilities” in state statutes and in documents like the Emergency Fire Fund Analysis Form.

According to the County, the conflict over the interpretation of the state statute and the “financial capabilities exceptions” clause, which the DFPC honored in 2013, came after last year’s fire season. This year, however, the DFPC wanted the section removed.

And it wasn’t the only section that saw changes in 2014.

The plan governing the relationship between county, state and federal entities is really only in its second year.

Fired up: State readies for fire season with new laws, new gear As Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper put pen to paper on May 12 to sign three bills related to wildland firefighting, he also announced what residents can expect this year – a “normal” fire season. With snowpack and precipitation levels high in the northern and central mountains, the state overall is not as hot and dry as it was this time last year and fire activity is expected to not be as severe. In the Southwest corner of the state, however, the snowpack is much lower, which increases the potential for wildfires in this area. The Colorado Water Supply Outlook Report for this month, put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, called the combined watersheds of the San Juans one of the “have not” areas of the state. As of May 1, the snowpack was just 68 percent of median, while statewide it was 128 percent of last year. Precipitation for the Southwest has been below normal for the past five months, and is only 86 percent of average. And, with spring run-off in full swing, the only numbers looking up are reservoir storage. In preparation for the upcoming fire season, the State Legislature passed three bills intended to help out. One gives the state the ability to loan money for forest health projects and another clarifies the language for prescribed burn permits. The third will likely make the biggest impact. It authorizes $20 million for two firefighting planes and four helicopters, upping the state's firefighting arsenal. These aerial assets can be used to spot wildfires as they spark up, map out terrain and drop water. “With forecasts and planning, plus the addition of new resources related to wildfire response, we are doing what we can at the state level to be prepared in the best way possible,” stated Hickenlooper. – ?Tracy Chamberlin

Triggered by new concerns over budget restrictions at the federal, state and local levels, as well as drought and other environmental issues, La Plata County, the La Plata County Sheriff, the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, federal land agencies, county fire districts and Colorado Parks and Wildlife sat down and essentially rewrote the plan in 2013 to address this changing landscape.

This year was supposed to be a chance to build on that plan. However, the 2013 fire season revealed issues
that required some substantial changes to the 2014 plan.

For one, the federal participants and DFPC are currently re-negotiating cost sharing, which helps determine who’s going to pay for what before the fire starts. The county called that the “greatest utility” of the operation plan.

The County echoed that sentiment in the letter, asking the DFPC to continuing working with the federal participants. Cooke said they are doing just that. 

The idea of a unified command structure during wildland fires was another change. Disagreement over the right time and place for a unified structure caused it to get scratched from the 2014 plan, something else the county would like to see clarified.

Cooke said he has no objection to that, but added that it’s not just a matter to be worked out by the DFPC and the County. All the stakeholders need to be involved.

The other financial concern for the County was the time it took to actually get the bill. In some cases, according to the County, it took more than a year after the incident to find out how much it cost.

“I agree that it is not appropriate for the federal agencies to expect payment for bills that are not submitted in a timely fashion,” Cooke said. “DFPC is seeking resolution to this issue.”  

The biggest concern for the County, though, was the DFPC’s insistence that the “financial capabilities exception” be removed from the 2014 plan, which the two are continuing to work out.