COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Major wildfire mitigation work is wrapping up on the hillside above the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, a collaborative effort to protect properties from fast-moving flames.
This whole hillside shows the risk factor that the city and others are worried about. If a fire starts low, it goes up hills very quickly. In mid-March 2025, a fire started at the base of the bluff below the Kissing Camels neighborhood, threatening the homes above.
"It looked like there was a bonfire almost size, and from the bonfire to the whole hillside that went up took about I don't five ten minutes," one neighbor said.
Neighbors were shocked by how fast the flames reached their homes at the top of the bluff. A year later, mitigation work is happening about a half-mile south on the same bluff.
"We do what we can on the property itself," said Brenda Smith, co-owner of the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club.
Owners of the Garden of the Gods Resort and Club recognized the wildfire risk posed to their business and their neighbors by thick vegetation on the hillside below.
"We all know, we really live in a wildfire area and we all need to work together to come together to reduce that risk level as much as possible," Smith said.
The hillside between private property on top of the bluff and 30th Street below is technically the city's. A collaboration happened between the resort, the Garden of the Gods Visitors Center, and multiple city departments.
"In reducing those fuels, the fire isn't going to have any fuel to spread up the hill as quickly," said Ashley Whitworth, Colorado Springs Fire Department, Wildfire Mitigation Program Administrator.
One mitigation project can protect multiple properties.
"Work with your neighbors, right? Whether that's a homeowner, is it a business owner, things like that, or, you know, if it is a city parcel," Whitworth said.
Mitigation is protection, and also peace of mind, especially when wildfire risk is on the rise.
"That's really going to be a big difference as far as the risks on the club or if there were a wildfire, not having it actually make it up to the club," Smith said.
This is not a one-off for the fire department. They will consult and sometimes collaborate with anyone who calls to learn more about wildfire mitigation.
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