Apocalyptic scenes of destruction wrought by wildfires in Los Angeles have been heart-rending and shocking. Lives lost. Lives and livelihoods shattered. And we do not yet know the full cost, toll of human suffering or long-term consequences of this disaster.
The scale of destruction has been described as unimaginable. But if climate change teaches us anything it is that we need to imagine, plan and prepare for the unimaginable.
That applies to us in Colorado as well and means that catastrophic wildfire is not exclusively a problem for communities surrounded by National Forests. Nor is there a confined fire season anymore.
Three years ago, in the winter, the Marshall Fire burned 1,084 homes and generated losses of more than $2 billion in a firestorm sustained by 10 hours of hurricane force “mountain wave” winds (documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
In less than a decade, Coloradans witnessed four of the five largest wildfires by acreage in our history. The second largest ever, the East Troublesome fire of 2020, broke out in mid-October when the worst of fire season was supposed to be over. That fire took six weeks to contain.
Issues have surfaced in Los Angeles, raising additional concerns for metropolitan areas about the resiliency of water distribution infrastructure, hydrant pressure, local fire department resources, unfilled reservoirs and better regional and state coordination.
The nexus between fire and water is clear.
That is why Denver Water, the region’s largest water utility, an anchor institution in the metropolitan area serving 1.5 million people, has undertaken a lead role in addressing catastrophic wildfire.
Denver Water has a special interest in protecting our land, infrastructure and water supply from catastrophic fire. Our system collects water across 4,000 square miles and maintains four water treatment plants and several reservoirs on both sides of the Continental Divide. This infrastructure is under threat from fires that could devour these landscapes that capture, filter and deliver water to one-quarter of Coloradans.
Our From Forests to Faucets partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute has committed $96 million to reduce wildfire risk in critical areas. From the program’s inception in 2010 through work planned into 2027, half of the funding — $48 million — has come from Denver Water ratepayers.
In total, Denver Water and partners have treated more than 120,000 acres of forested land since 2010, with nearly two-thirds of that within the South Platte River Basin. Local organizations involved in the work include Jefferson County Open Space, Jefferson Conservation District, Aurora Water and the local fire protection districts.
We are also a key source of water that would be needed to fight the kind of suburban firestorm we saw during the Marshall Fire and the series of fires that engulfed parts of the Los Angeles area this month. Ensuring our treated water storage tanks, pump stations and other equipment would be prepared and protected so they could deliver water during a major urban or suburban fire is critical to our mission.
Denver Water is also undertaking a major expansion of Gross Reservoir in western Boulder County. That project will create more water supply for the north side of the metro area, key infrastructure should wildfire inhibit the delivery of water on the south side of the region, via the South Platte, where wildfires have struck consistently over the past 30 years.
These are important actions by a water utility, but the breadth of the problem is significantly larger than any one entity to manage.
Reducing the risks of catastrophic wildfire must be everyone’s concern. You don’t have to be a homeowner in the foothills or live on the edges of Denver’s western suburbs for this to impact your life.
Multiple wildfires across the state and a firestorm on the Front Range would mean dangerous air pollution across the region; it would require a massive emergency response, straining the resources of government at every level. It would put homes, businesses and lives at risk.
Thankfully, growing awareness of this challenge is underway in Colorado. Denver Water is not alone. Critical partners in federal, state, and local governments are engaged and working collaboratively. Emergency responders in rural and urban communities are at the table.
Growing that table of awareness and leaders is also underway. Just months ago, a working group led by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Northern Water, Denver Water, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Wild Turkey Federation brought leaders from the ski industry, the insurance industry, conservation and civic partners as well as major private sector entities together to explore ways to scale up the resources (people and funding) that are necessary to mitigate the impacts of catastrophic wildfires.
The actual work needed to build wildfire resilience is clear. It means active forest management to combat overgrown forests in high-risk areas, restoring forests to their naturally resilient conditions, utilizing ignition-resistant building materials, creating more defensible space and working in the wildland-urban interface to protect homes and businesses in advance of potential fires.
Funding this work, finding the labor to do it, and exploring financially sustainable and profitable ways to remove combustible materials is an ongoing challenge. Addressing the problem of insurance risk and cost recovery is another. We need to harness more of the private sector’s innovation and economic expertise to expand this work because the breadth of necessary work on the ground is vast.
Greater public awareness is essential. We shouldn’t have a failure of imagination about how serious these risks are for communities in Colorado. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.
We are forewarned. Now let’s use our foresight to meet the challenge.
Alan Salazar is the CEO and manager of Denver Water.
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