Concerned Colorado fire chiefs and lawmakers are pushing for a statewide board that would define wildfire-urban interface dangers zones and impose preventative building codes on local governments.
A bill for the mandatory codes board is set to be introduced this week by Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat, but is already raising opposition from local-control advocates who are battling potential statewide impositions on multiple fronts, including affordable housing. Democratic supporters abandoned a similar idea introduced late in the 2022 legislative session after Republican opponents to the policy threatened to block other measures in protest.
“Wildfires are a huge problem, and we have to come at them with every tool we have. I’m taking all my cues from the fire chiefs,” said Cutter, lead sponsor of the bill that would create the “Wildfire Resiliency Code Board.”
“We can harden our homes,” Cutter said. “We obviously continue to build in the WUI, and we need to be responsible about that.”
