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As fires burn across Colorado's Front Range, why are officials not calling home Colorado's firefighters?

Local agencies sign up some of their crew members to a national inter-agency system. When extreme fires start outside the state, those crews are deployed to states that need more boots on the ground
Alexander Mountain Fire_July 31, 2024
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DENVER — Why are officials refraining from calling home Colorado's firefighters who are deployed to the northwest? It's a growing question among many Coloradans who are witnessing thousands of acres of land being consumed by wildfires along the Front Range.

"Once the firefighters have been requested to respond to incidents around the nation, they usually get tied in and are, um, kind of really into the intricacies of the command system and or the operations on the ground," said Paul Ostroy, the fire management officer for Mountain View Fire Rescue (MVFR).

MVFR currently has three employees deployed to the Park Fire burning in California.

Earlier in the week, the Colorado Springs Fire Department acknowledged several crews were dispatched to fight fires in Oregon and Idaho.

Local agencies sign up some of their crew members to a national inter-agency system and in times like these, when extreme fires start burning in areas such as the northwest, those crews are dispatched. The personnel are typically gone for about 14 days.

Stan Hilkey, Colorado's executive director of Public Safety, told Denver7 it is ultimately the decision of local fire chiefs whether to bring crews home.

"It's really hard to just kind of wave the wand and hope that they can just leave what they're doing to come back and facilitate the needs here," said Ostroy.

On Friday, Governor Jared Polis told Denver7 he is confident in the resources currently in Colorado, as Hotshot crews and helicopters come in from other states to assist in the firefighting efforts.

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"Look, we can always use more resources, but Colorado at this point has more resources than we've ever had before, more resources than we had when we fought the summer fires of 2020 and we're throwing everything we have to protect homes and lives," said Governor Polis.

However, multiple local and state officials over the last several days have called on local agencies to bring their crews back to Colorado.

"I call upon the chief of the fire departments in our state to think about bringing those assets back when it's most practical for them, because the state of Colorado needs those resources here as well," said Hilkey, during a media briefing on Wednesday.