GOLDEN, Colo. — The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has been awarded a nearly $9.7 million federal grant to reduce wildfire risk.
The grant will expand the Wildland Fire Management Program, which launched in 2025 to mitigate extreme wildfire danger. The program was originally started using funding from Ballot Measure 1A.
Over five years, the funding will support staff, purchase equipment and safety gear, and clear roadside vegetation.
Wildland Fire Program Manager Brian Keating said Jeffco is the 2nd most wildfire-prone county in Colorado.
"It's super important, and it's really additive to the work. We have all of our fire protection districts and our departments. They're on the front line, they're the initial attack response agencies, and we're super grateful for that, but now we'll be able to bring in more equipment, more bodies, more resources," Keating said.
The program will also fund home assessments and incentives for homeowners, focusing on defensible space and home hardening.
"The county is going to develop a cost-share program where we will help cover some of the fiscal cost of implementing those actions, so those are the big parts of the program that we're working on," Keating said.
Community Wildfire Defense Grants were created in 2022 and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Biden. They are administered by the US Forest Service and the USDA.
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