Colorado's rural fire stations feel the heat from national, state funding challenges
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SALIDA, Colo. — The Salida Fire Department is almost as old as the state of Colorado, and its 15-person crew still wear shirts reading “Salida Hose Company No. 1” to honor the station’s earliest days.
This year, that station turns 123 years old.
The station housed the Salida Fire Department and the South Arkansas Fire Protection District (SAFPD).
Chief Aaron Jonke, who stepped into the chief position after more than three decades of service in Denver, leads both agencies. The two teams recently moved into a new firehouse thanks in part to a $1 million grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs back in 2023.
Even though this money made it to Salida, a number of other grants, which include about $50,000 to upgrade dated wildfire radios and funds to replace a more than thirty-year old fire truck, are currently on hold.
“We’re very fortunate and grateful [for the new station], and it will help us continue the success of our team,” said Jonke.
“But make no mistake, we truly are poor.”
On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order freezing the creation of federal civilian positions and the filling of vacant positions.
The order exempts positions related to public safety, and in February the U.S. Forest Service stated that wildland firefighting jobs would qualify under these exemptions.
Yet widespread Forest Service firings led to the cancellation of training programs and prescribed burns. Workers are expressing concerns about how understaffing will impact many of the wildfire prevention, mitigation and assistance programs offered through the Forest Service.
The federal government allocates grant money for Forest Service and firefighting efforts as well, including through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant.
The Trump administration ordered pauses for many of these FEMA grants, leaving some Colorado fire stations — particularly smaller, more rural stations — in limbo.
Raising sufficient funds to support Colorado’s rural and mountain town stations is a perennial problem, and when matched with escalating equipment costs, staffing shortages and federal personnel and funding freezes, some fire chiefs are growing concerned about the safety of their communities and their firefighters.
Matt Bennett is the Wildfire Division Chief for the Red, White and Blue Fire District (RWBFD) based in Breckenridge. He started his 25 year-career as a volunteer, working “on the rigs,” (i.e., a fire truck) until eventually transitioning into his current role which focuses on wildfire awareness and community preparedness.
“An ounce of preparedness is worth a pound of cure,” said Bennett. “Wildfires are going to happen, so our goal is to be able to coexist with these fires… to build awareness, because wildfires can have a really devastating effect on communities, and rural communities especially.”
Bennett said that the RWBFD works extensively with state and federal partners,like the Colorado State Forest Service and the United States Forest Service to manage Summit County, about 80% of which is public lands.
Breckenridge, and much of Summit County, is located in the wildland urban-interface (also called the WUI, pronounced “woo-ee”), or areas where human structures are located near natural, flammable vegetation. While fires are seen as beneficial to maintaining the health of these ecosystems, the flammability requires residents to properly adapt their homes.
This is where Bennett and the RWBFD step in. Using grant money and support from state and federal services, the RWBFD creates fuel breaks in densely wooded areas to manage the intensity of future fires. The department also works with schools and community organizations to educate the public about fire safety and preparedness.
The RWBFD can access funds through the Summit County Wildfire Council, which provides wildfire mitigation grants made possible by a voter-approved Summit County mill levy established in 2008.
Bennett praised these funds, but underlined that the RWBFD relies on additional grants in order to serve the entire county. As federal job cuts reduced partner organization’s staff sizes and federal grant money was put on hold, Bennett worries that the RWBFD will lose the “momentum” it’s been building over the past few years.
“Mitigation is how we maintain our communities in small towns,” said Bennett.
“Roughly 75% of houses burned in the urban-interface are not rebuilt, which means about 75% of our community are not coming back. That hurts your workforce, local businesses, everything.”
Bennett said the RWBFD will continue working to educate and prepare the county as much as possible, though he emphasized that there is a real “uncertainty” and “much anxiety” around the future of many of their services.
Randy Black, the chief of the Durango Fire Protection District (DFPD), started as a volunteer, working on the rigs and battling some of the largest blazes in Colorado history, including the 1994 Black Ridge Fire south of Durango.
He leads about 150 people across the district’s 16 fire stations, only four of which are staffed (meaning run by salaried, full-time firemen). 11 are volunteer-run, and one is a dedicated wildfire base.
“We could never afford to staff all 16 stations, so we rely on our volunteers,” said Black. “And we used to have volunteers knocking down our doors, but now many people are taking on two or three jobs and just don’t have the time.
Recruiting career staff can be challenging in Durango, where firefighters may make around $40,000 less than their counterparts on the Front Range, according to Black.
The DFPD is one of the largest fire departments south of Pueblo and is responsible for about 325 square miles. For reference, the Colorado Springs Fire District — which is responsible for a much more densely populated area — has 23 stations covering about 194 square miles.
The DFPD is an all-hazards agency; those who join are required to train for swift water rescue, structure fire response and emergency medical services.
Jonke, Bennett and Black all said that emergency medical responses make up about three-quarters of their daily calls.
In rural areas like Durango, the fire department fills critical gaps in health care.
Because there are limited mental health services around Durango, Black said that a DFPD ambulance drives patients as far as Pueblo and Colorado Springs, which is more than 300 miles away. The DFPD financed this ambulance through a grant from the American Rescue Plan Act, national relief money granted under the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Black said that the DFPD is now also waiting on frozen grant funds dedicated for fire mitigation efforts. However, he said that the department struggles to win grant money, as the combined 16 station-operation working on a multi-million dollar budget gives the impression that they are sufficiently equipped financially.
Black is also concerned about lacking state funding. He argued that adjustments in property assessments and tax rate cuts instituted by Governor Polis in a 2023 special session are pulling money from fire stations, who often rely on local taxes for funding.
Shortly after the 2023 session, all 27 of El Paso County’s fire chiefs submitted a letter to Governor Polis opposing the decision.
Black, Bennett and Jonke all emphasized the spiking costs of firefighting equipment. Jonke said that new fire engines can cost more than $2 million each, and turnout gear — the full-body firefighter suits often associated with firefighters — ladders and radios can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, significantly more than a few decades ago.
The New York Times recently reported on the Senate investigating how private equity may be impacting the rising cost of fire trucks.
But this gear, like the outdated radios the Salida Fire Department are waiting to replace, are essential for firefighters to perform successfully, said Jonke, and proper fire station amenities like functional decontamination rooms (which reduce a firefighter's risk of cancer) are necessary for protecting his own team’s health and safety.
All three fire chiefs expressed concerns about what federal funding pauses and reductions in the federal workforce could mean for their stations, and each underlined the vital role that small-town fire stations play in protecting their communities, beyond fighting fires.
Black said that members of his team are still in contact with the parents of a child they delivered on one call.
“The lives of families in our community depend on us, and if we don’t have equipment that works well, or we can’t go out at all, that could impact everyone,” said Jonke.
“There is a lot of uncertainty right now, for us and our partners,” said Bennet. “We’re all a little nervous, but we’ll keep moving forward.”
“We need to have a resilient community in order to have a community at all.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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