Representative Velasco, bill sponsor, introduced House Bill 24-1155. This bill makes several changes to laws related to the emergency response for managing wildland fires. Notably, the bill:
- specifies the ability of all fire response agencies to transfer management of a wildland fire to the county sheriff when a fire exceeds the capability of a fire response agency to manage;
- repeals obsolete language requiring that emergency responses to wildfires adhere to a community wildfire protection plan, which is primarily a preventative planning document and not an emergency response tool;
- provides flexibility to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the Department of Public Safety to determine when to use a unified command management strategy; and
- repeals obsolete language referencing the division as the lead state agency for wildland fire response and suppression to align with the state emergency operations plan.

The bill sponsor responded to questions from the committee.

Chief Vaughn Jones, representing the Division of Fire Prevention and Control, responded to questions from the committee.

Representative Velasco gave final comments on the bill.