By Eric Young
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As Colorado Springs’s population and construction needs continue to grow, so does the risk of wildfires throughout the city and region.
With this threat in mind, the Colorado Springs Fire Department has partnered with the Manufacturing Industry Learning Lab (MiLL) in Widefield School District 3 to build structures demonstrating the different levels of fire resistance.
The CSFD approached the training facility ahead of the school year to express interest in teaching current students the importance of ignition-resistant construction and fire mitigation for homes and areas located in the wildland-urban interface.
The wildland-urban interface is a geographically defined area where houses or businesses are in or near mixed topographical and geographical features with various types of timber, brush and grass.
These areas throughout the country pose greater risks to people and property because of their proximity of combustible vegetation and structures.
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“Wildfire has not changed, but what has is the number of people living near areas with a higher risk to fire and how many people are educated on these risks,” said CSFD Wildfire Mitigation Program Coordinator Jessica McIntire.
Because 24% of Colorado Springs’ population currently live in the interface, the CSFD leadership reached out to the MiLL to share current fire-mitigation strategies like home hardening with students.
“And the sales pitch was, ‘Your students are going to enter the industry and they need to be trained on the codes and they need to be almost the example for industry,’” said Kathleen Mena, operations manager and work-based learning coordinator. “Because they’re the next generation.”
The MiLL is a training facility for D-3 high school students that offers classes, internships and certification opportunities for cabinet manufacturing, construction technology and welding technology. It has also become known for its partnerships with local trade companies since opening in 2017.
Although there is state coding that is regularly updated for all new buildings to adhere to, CSFD Deputy Fire Marshal Kris Cooper said there are also additional factors that depend on where buildings are located and aren’t always considered.
“Not all builders build in the WUI, so ignition-resistant construction is foreign to many of our local contractors,” he told The Gazette.
“We also have a challenge of educating the builders as to the ‘why’ behind the construction requirements. Educating future workers of the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ establishes a well-educated workforce who can share that knowledge with their future employers and coworkers.”
Over the next few months, MiLL students will build four props to educate builders, homeowners and communities on how to reduce fire risks in vulnerable areas.
Specifically, a structure with fiber cement siding and a Class A fire-rated roof will exemplify a code-compliant structure while another with wood siding and wood shake shingle roof will demonstrate one as completely noncompliant.
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Because of its location at the bottom of the namesake mountain, along with other distinctions, the school district recently determined wildland fires to be the “most impactful” kind of emergency it could face and developed a plan and procedure in the event this should occur.
Structures with varying degrees of compliant and noncompliant materials will also be constructed before they are all eventually ignited. The plan is to record each burn on video to demonstrate their fire resistance (or lack thereof) and share it with local builders.
Beyond the public safety aspect, the partnership is also acting as an entryway into the firefighting career field for students. CSFD recently met with students to also teach them about construction-minded careers in a department like fire marshal, building inspector and fire investigator.
Although it may seem like the partnership could end following the video, McIntire said they intend for it to continue “indefinitely.”
She explained this is because of their ever-evolving understanding of wildfires, wildfire prevention and public outreach and education. In addition to the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires, local fire departments have also collected data and information from smaller brush fires throughout the years to determine other preventive measures.
A recent innovation in mitigating neighborhood fires is ignition-resistant fencing.
“That’s an example of something we’ve learned,” she said. “And while it might not be code now, it may or may not become code in the next few years here.”
Local residents are encouraged to learn more about their location in the wildland-urban interface and what this means for their property. This boundary along with specific wildfire danger ratings for parcels can be found at the city of Colorado Springs’ Wildfire Mitigation Site.
As for the MiLL’s role, Mena added that the work being done now could possibly carry on with neighboring communities going forward.
“Maybe it’s ‘Hey, Colorado Springs did it. What can Fountain do? What can our Security fire department do?’” she said. “So (there are) huge applications to rinse and repeat throughout the city as needed.”
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