Typically most of the mountain towns seem to replicate each other. In this case, Breckenridge(Summit County) has made radical changes that will help real estate owners save considerable money. On top of that, the changes implemented were free. Why are other ski towns not following Summit County’s lead? How can the state of Colorado for free save property owners and taxpayers millions of dollars a year?
What big change did Breckenridge/Summit county make
First, although I am saying Breckenridge in the blog, the changes were actually made in Summit County where Breckenridge is located. Most do not know the counties in Colorado so this is why I used the largest city in Summit County, Breckenridge, in the article.
Under the current model to implement fire restrictions, Officials have historically looked at conditions from the previous five to seven days for the four areas of interest. Under the new policy there are two huge changes,
1) The new model looks at future predictions as well like what does the 10 day forecast hold
2) High Human caused risk: high human-caused risk, considers if there were recently human-caused fires and if there are events in the future that could attract large crowds. FitzSimons said those two things are combined because, while Summit County sees large events nearly every weekend over the summer, more rural areas of the management unit do not.
Why should Colorado property owners care about fire restrictions
I’ve seen various studies that show that around 80% of all wildfires are somehow human caused with many of the recent fires like the one in Granby caused by a campfires. With so many human caused fires, it is low hanging fruit for counties to say no backcountry campfires allowed to prevent fast moving wildfires.
Why did Breckenridge/Summit County make the changes to fire restrictions?
Summit County finally woke up to the fact that many of the wildfires we are seeing are human caused and preventable. A simple increase in fire restrictions could immensely help reduce the risk of a major wildfire.
How do these changes in fire restrictions help property owners in Summit County?
- Less increases in insurance premiums: Over time if Summit county has less fires than for example Steamboat/ Routt County rates will increase less than other areas.
- Stable taxes: Huge events like wildfires can cost counties hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ultimately these costs have to be paid by someone, aka the taxpayers. So any dollar saved by not having a major wildfire will lead to better county and city finances that will ultimately help taxpayers
- Not losing a property/house: obviously above I highlighted the community economic benefits, but not losing a property is priceless.
Why are other ski towns not following Summit County’s lead?
It is crazy, at the same time Summit county implemented restrictions, neither Steamboat/Routt or Winter Park/Granby have taken similar steps. Even though the conditions in both Steamboat and Granby were comparable or even worse than Summit county.
Unfortunately I think there are two reasons why other counties did not implement fire restrictions when Summit did:
- Focus on tourism over residents: a big piece of why Steamboat did not implement fire restrictions is because the city/county continues to focus on short term tourism gains as opposed to the actual residents and property owners.
- Following outdated methods to determine fire restrictions: For example, in Routt County they determine fire restrictions based on fuel dryness the last 7 days. Unfortunately in almost every case, there is a fire before the metrics say that fire restrictions should be implemented.
Colorado should mandate changes to fire restrictions
Counties like Routt and Grand county along with almost every other county in Colorado use outdated methodologies to implement fire restrictions. The state should mandate a change to implementing fire restrictions and require 3 changes:
- Future looking assessment: scrap the current model of only looking backwards, look at the forecasts for how dry/hot it could get
- High human caused risk: if there have already been fires like we have seen this year, then fire restrictions should immediately be implemented
- Regional level planning required: For fire restrictions it should be required to be done at the regional level. So if Summit county implements restrictions then automatically Park, Eagle, and Grand county all have similar restrictions
Insurance crisis in Colorado worsening
Anyone who has looked at their insurance bill knows we have a crisis in Colorado with one of the fastest growing increases in premiums in the country. One of the leading causes is the increased risk of fires due to human activities. This is low hanging fruit to try to mitigate human caused wildland fires and yet no other county other than Summit county is taking a common sense approach to save taxpayers and property owners money.
Giving up a backcountry campfire is not a huge ask as there are countless alternatives like a small backpacking stove (this is what I use when we go backpacking) that will enable safe backcountry camping while minimizing the risk.
Colorado needs to take a stand and prioritize property owners and residents over tourism to require every county to update their methods for determining fire restrictions and also require regional planning. With a drying climate, and hotter summers, these changes must be implemented before the insurance crisis in Colorado turns into a tsunami of insurers leaving the state and higher rates as California is experiencing now.
Hopefully our legislature can actually design and prioritize legislation like this that will save property owners money as opposed to all their current bills that substantially increases the cost to property owners.
Additional Reading/Resources:
https://coloradohardmoney.com/biggest-mistake-for-property-owners-in-wildfires/
https://coloradohardmoney.com/colorado-insurance-crisis/
https://coloradohardmoney.com/2025-new-colorado-real-estate-laws/
