During each of the past three years, the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) was able to send crews around Discovery two different weeks each summer to pick up and chip tree and shrub trimmings. They were able to do so because they had documented sufficient woodland debris in the previous years to justify the resources necessary to help dispose of our trimmings. However, the CSFD representative (Ashley Whitworth) informed us at our 2019 Annual Meeting that they expect less resources for the Firewise program going forward, based on the amount of debris they chipped last year.  Unfortunately, the natural consequence of this is likely that we will only be afforded one chipping visit next year! 

Fortunately, the formula used to measure the amount of woodland fire mitigation includes another factor that we can affect.  Spring has sprung and many of us have already been out trimming and pruning.  We should document the amount of time we are spending doing fire mitigation in our yards -- whether that is removing dead trees, shrubs and branches, removing vegetation that is too close to our houses or overhanging our homes, or simply  pulling mulch back from our foundations. Please consider submitting your "volunteer" fire mitigation hours to us so we may consolidate and provide them to the Fire Department Firewise office.

Simply drop us a quick email to with your address, the type of work you did (e.g., "trimming and pruning"), the date(s) involved and the number of hours you spent. We will make sure the Fire Department gets it in time to add to their documentation of the 2020 wildfire mitigation program.

Thanks in advance for helping keep Discovery a beautiful, neat and SAFE community!