A special commission created by the Colorado General Assembly to investigate the Lower North Fork fire has released their report. The fire originated from an escaped prescribed fire southwest of Denver on March 26, 2012. It burned 4,140 acres and killed three local residents at their homes. The report offers a number of recommendations but did not place blame.

This is the second report about the fire. The first, released in April, 2012, was conducted by Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources. That 152-page report (a very large 11.8 MB file) only addressed the management of the prescribed fire, and did not cover the suppression of the wildfire, the three fatalities, or the controversial evacuation procedures during the wildfire.

The charter of the commission  which produced the second report was to investigate the following:

• causes of the wildfire;
• the impact of the wildfire on the affected community;
• the loss of life and financial devastation incurred by the community;
• the loss of confidence by the community in the response to the emergency by
• governmental bodies at all levels; and
• measures to prevent the occurrence of a similar tragedy

Their recommendations were on the following topics:

1. Coordination among fire districts
2. Raising the liability cap
3. Wildland-urban interface and local land use egulations
4. Funding for the federal FLAME Act (which is not fully funded by Congress)
5. 911 capabilities
6. A consistent revenue source for wildfire suppression
7. Air emission permits
8. Funding for the SWIFT Program

The Commission also recommends that four bills be introduced in the Colorado General Assembly:

• Prescribed Burn Program in the Division of Fire Prevention and Control
• Wildfire Matters Review Committee
• Extend Wildfire Mitigation Financial Incentives
• All-hazards Resource Mobilization and Reimbursement

You can read the entire report HERE.

Thanks go out to Gary