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Wildland Fire Management

Protect Your Home from Wildfire

Take simple, practical steps to reduce your home's wildfire vulnerability. Learn how to harden your home, create defensible space, and protect what matters most.

An official program of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

Jefferson County Wildland Fire Management

Free for Jefferson County property owners

Home Assessments

The Community Engagement team offers free Home Assessments for property owners across Jefferson County. A mitigation specialist will spend around 1.5 hours with you, evaluating the exterior of your home and the surrounding property to understand current conditions and identify wildfire risk.

Home Assessments are a collaborative process. By walking the property with you, our assessors gain insight into your priorities and help you understand what actions will be most effective for your home and property.

After the visit, you'll receive a private, detailed online report outlining your home's vulnerabilities and practical steps you can take to improve structure survivability during a wildfire.

Ready to get started? Request your free home wildfire assessment.

  • Free
  • Around 1.5 hours on site
  • Private online report
Request a Free Home Assessment
A mitigation specialist holding a tablet and clipboard gestures toward a boarded-up window while talking with a resident outside a brick home
An assessor walks a homeowner through exterior findings during a free home wildfire risk assessment

Why Are Home Assessments Valuable?

Three illustrated panels showing how homes ignite during a wildfire: direct flame contact from burning vegetation, wind-blown embers landing on the roof and yard, and radiant heat from a burning structure nearby. Each panel notes that defensible space and home hardening reduce that pathway
The three ways wildfire reaches a home — and how mitigation interrupts each one (graphic: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources)

A structure's potential to ignite during a wildland fire depends on two main factors: the combustibility of its building materials and the quality of the defensible space surrounding it. Structures can ignite from wind-driven embers, direct flame contact, or radiant heat.

It is estimated that 90% of structure losses from wildfires are due to ember ignition. Embers are small, burning pieces of material carried by the wind—sometimes miles ahead of the main fire front. When they land on or near a home, they can ignite dry leaves, pine needles, landscape mulch, deck boards, or even outdoor furniture cushions. Embers often pile up on decks, in gutters, along fences, and anywhere windblown debris collects, creating small ignition points that can quickly grow into a structure fire.

The good news is that homeowners can take simple, cost-effective steps to significantly reduce these vulnerabilities. By addressing areas where embers tend to accumulate and improving defensible space, residents can greatly increase their home's chance of surviving a wildfire.

Home Hardening

Home hardening is the process of making your home more resistant to wind-driven embers, direct flame contact, and radiant heat during a wildfire. Even small improvements can make a big difference. Examples include screening attic and roof vents with 1/8-inch corrosion-resistant metal mesh, choosing noncombustible building materials, and keeping the first 5 feet around your home free of any flammable items.

Because every home is built differently, the materials, design, and condition of your structure influence how well it will stand up to wildfire. Home hardening, combined with defensible space, helps strengthen your home and reduce the chance it will ignite during a wildfire.

Top three home hardening priorities

  • Vents
  • Roofs and Gutters
  • First 5 feet around your home

For more information request a Free Home Assessment for personalized guidance or review available resources:

Request a Free Home Assessment Review available resources

Defensible Space

Defensible space is the intentionally managed area between your home and surrounding vegetation. By reducing flammable materials such as grasses, shrubs, and low tree branches, and managing tree canopy spacing, you can lower wildfire intensity and create a buffer that protects your home. Defensible space also improves firefighter access and provides a safer area to defend the structure if a wildfire approaches.

The purpose of defensible space is simple:

  • increase your home's chances of surviving a wildfire
  • reduce the spread and intensity of flames near your property
  • improve firefighter safety and suppression effectiveness

Defensible space only works if it's maintained. Regularly clearing debris, managing vegetation, and keeping the area near your home clean and open are key steps to long-term protection.

For more information on defensible space zones and specific recommendations, see the Colorado State Forest Service Home Ignition Zone guide(opens in new tab) .

A wood cabin with a green roof among ponderosa pines on a rocky slope above a signalized road intersection
A cabin on a rocky, forested slope above a foothills road

Wildfire Resiliency Code (WRC)

Effective July 1, 2026

As of July 1, 2026 the new Jefferson County Wildfire Resiliency Code (WRC) regulations apply to unincorporated Jeffco properties within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The WRC includes requirements for defensible space and structure hardening. The purpose of structure hardening and defensible space is to reduce the ignitability of structures to protect lives and property. For more information about the WRC and applicability, please visit the Jefferson County's website.

Learn more about Jefferson County's Wildfire Resiliency Code

Wildland Fire Management

Resources

Trusted guides, fact sheets, and videos from Colorado and national wildfire experts. Links open on the publisher's site.

Start here

Your home ignition zone

Start with the big picture: how homes ignite, and the zones around your home that matter most.

Home hardening fact sheets

NFPA Firewise research fact sheets on the building features that embers and flames attack first.

Defensible space and landscaping

Colorado-specific guidance on plants, spacing, and maintenance around your home.

Insurance and preparedness

Understanding your coverage before fire season, from Colorado sources.

Wildfire smoke and air quality

Protecting your health when smoke settles in, even from fires far away.

Videos

Short explainers from the researchers who study how homes burn.

Lookout Alert: Jefferson County Emergency Notifications

Lookout Alert is Jefferson County's free emergency notification system. When emergencies occur, registered residents receive Lookout Alert messages by phone call, text, and email with critical information about wildfires, severe weather, evacuations, and other public-safety incidents.

Sign Up for Lookout Alert

Receive critical alerts about wildfires, severe weather, evacuations, and other emergencies.

Register for Lookout Alert
3+
Alert Methods
24/7
Monitoring
Free
To Register

Questions? Contact the Wildland Fire Management Program at WildfireRisk@jeffco.us