DENVER — Colorado is getting more than $10 million in pre-disaster mitigation grants that Trump administration officials says will empower states and local officials to manage their own disaster preparedness.
The grants, announced Wednesday, come less than a week after FEMA denied portions of Colorado’s disaster declaration request for victims of the 102,004-acre Aspen Acres Fire. The fire, which destroyed more than 850 structures, including 350 homes, ranked among the most destructive wildfires by homes destroyed in Colorado.
In Wednesday’s announcement, FEMA officials said the pre-disaster mitigation grant program will deliver more than $8.6 million to Greeley for the Gold Hill Pipeline project, more than a million to Jefferson County Parks & Conservation for roadway wildfire hazard mitigation and more than $869,000 to the Mesa County Public Works Division for the Douglas Wash Detention Basin Project.
FEMA officials said those grants come at the direction of Congress, which requested the grants be distributed no later than this year.
Officials said most of the projects for which Colorado was awarded the grants, “focus on improving infrastructure to reduce flood risk, while others address hazards such as earthquakes and wildfires.”
Colorado has less than 30 days to appeal the denial decision for this summer’s wildfires.
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