Current law regarding the authority over wildland fires is not aligned with current practice for managing wildland fires in the state. The bill aligns the statutes that address the management of wildland fires with current practice.
Transfer of wildland fire management from a fire response agency to the county sheriff. Current law specifies that a fire protection district may transfer the management of a wildland fire to the county sheriff (sheriff) when the fire exceeds the fire chief of a fire protection district's (fire chief) capability to manage, but does not contemplate such transfer by a municipal fire department, volunteer fire department, fire authority, or other fire response agency. To specify the authority of all fire response agencies to transfer the management of a wildland fire to the sheriff, the bill authorizes a fire department, as currently defined in law, to transfer the management of a wildland fire and repeals references to transfers by a fire protection district.
In addition, current law allows a sheriff to develop a wildfire preparedness plan for the unincorporated area of a county in cooperation with any fire district with jurisdiction over the unincorporated area. The bill specifies that the sheriff may also develop such plan in cooperation with any fire department with jurisdiction over the unincorporated area.
Management of wildland fires subject to the provisions of relevant plans or agreements. Current law specifies that the duties of the sheriff and the fire chief are subject to the community wildfire protection plan (CWPP). However, the CWPP addresses the identification and reduction of hazards and is not focused on the response to or management of wildland fires. The bill repeals references to the CWPP in the statutes that address the response to and management of wildland fires and specifies that the sheriff and the fire chief are subject to any relevant plans or agreements. Management strategy when a wildland fire has been transferred to the state. Current law specifies that when a sheriff transfers the management of a wildland fire to the division of fire prevention and control in the department of public safety (division), the division is required to use unified command, which is a management strategy that uses multiple incident commanders with shared objectives. This requirement does not allow the division and the sheriff to determine the most appropriate management strategy for each wildland fire. The bill repeals the requirement that the division and the sheriff use unified command when a wildland fire has been transferred to the division. Management strategy for hazardous substance incident response. In addition, current law requires that unified command be used in the response to a hazardous substance incident, which does not allow responding agencies to determine the most appropriate response to and management of such an incident. The bill repeals the requirement that unified command be used in a hazardous substance incident. Use of the current incident command system for wildland fire management. Current law requires a sheriff to appoint a local incident management team to provide command and control to manage a wildland fire. However, a sheriff, the fire department, or the state may instead assign an incident commander or a non-local incident management team to manage the fire. The bill repeals the requirement that a sheriff appoint a local incident management team and instead requires the sheriff to appoint an incident commander for a wildland fire. In addition, the bill specifies that the agency that has jurisdiction over any wildland fire in the state is required to manage the fire using the incident command system as currently defined in law. References to the state emergency operations plan in wildland fire response and suppression statutes. Current law specifies that the division is the lead state agency for wildland fire suppression as identified in the Colorado state emergency operations plan (SEOP) and in accordance with the Colorado state forest service statute. However, the SEOP can only be activated by an executive order and does not apply to the majority of wildland fire operations or the majority of assistance and support that the division provides to local agencies. In addition, the reference to the state forest service is no longer accurate. The bill repeals references to the SEOP and the state forest service in the statute designating the division as the lead state agency for wildland fire response and suppression.
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
