Bill to Strengthen Colorado’s Wildfire Response Passes House

DENVER, CO - The House today passed legislation sponsored by Representative Tammy Story to provide resources to investigate the origins of wildfires. SB23-013 passed the House by a vote of 53 to 10.

“Colorado has a devastating history of wildfires that have wiped out entire neighborhoods,” said Rep. Tammy Story, D-Conifer. “Currently, Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control only has the resources to staff one full-time fire investigator to dig into the cause and origin of fires across the state, making it difficult to mitigate future wildfires. This bill creates a wildfire investigation fund to better understand how fires are started so we can better prevent them and respond to them in the future.”

SB23-013 would create the Wildfire Investigation Fund to study how wildfires are started to prevent future fires. It would also allocate $3 million to help investigate the causes and origins of wildfires. The bill also requires the Director of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control to report on fire investigations to the Wildfire Matters Review Committee.

Additionally, the fire investigation fund would provide support to local fire departments that help combat future wildfires by investigating the causes and origin of fires.