Lower North Fork Wildfire Commission (2012)

On March 22, 2012, state officials coordinated a prescribed burn on publicly owned land in rural Jefferson County. Based on a report issued by the U.S. Forest Service, embers from that prescribed burn are believed to have ignited the Lower North Fork Wildfire in the same area on March 26, 2012. The wildfire burned approximately 1,400 acres and resulted in 3 fatalities, 27 residences destroyed or substantially damaged, and $11.3 million in private property damages. The state expended $6.6 million to extinguish the wildfire. This issue brief summarizes legislative actions taken by the Colorado General Assembly in response to the Lower North Fork Wildfire.