NEDERLAND — The Nederland Fire Protection District (NFPD) Board of Directors gathered for a formal reading of the 2025 Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code during their regular meeting on February 18, 2026, in order to determine whether to adopt the code as another step toward full compliance with the state. 

Wildfire Resiliency Code

The Wildfire Resiliency Code Board was instituted in 2023 by Senate Bill 23-166, with the aim of having a code drafted which would establish “minimum regulations to safeguard life and property from intrusion of fire from wildland fire exposures and fire exposures from adjacent structures and to provide adequate fire protection facilities to control the spread of fire in wildland-urban interface areas.” 

Drafted by the Division of Fire Prevention and Control within the Colorado Department of Public Safety, the code was officially adopted in July of 2025.  

Those regulations mentioned in the code refer to structure hardening and other site requirements imposed by an area’s Fire Intensity Classification (FIC). This is determined by “expected wildfire behavior,” as well as surrounding fuels, potential flame length, rate of potential spread, terrain influence, and suppression difficulty. 

The code applies to any “construction, alteration, movement, repair, maintenance and use of any building, structure or premises within the wildland-urban interface areas of Colorado." However, only any new exterior design or construction of structures will require that hardening measures be implemented, the severity of which is based on the surrounding area’s FIC, which will be either low, moderate, or high.  

Structure hardening involves the use of permitted non-combustible building materials in new construction projects, including fire-retardant-treated wood and other ignition-resistant materials, such as plastic lumber. 

Any structures within a low FIC area are required to have flame and ember protection applied to their roofs—with roof valley flashings of no less than .019 inch of corrosion-resistant metal. They will also be required to have all gutters, downspouts, and ventilation openings be made of noncombustible material. 

Photo by Jessica LaFone

Any structures within a moderate or high FIC area are required to have all exterior walls and decks be made of fire-retardant-treated or ignition-resistant materials. Further, all exterior windows and skylights must be made of tempered and glazed multilayered glass panels, and all exterior doors be made of “approved noncombustible construction, solid core wood not less than 1 3⁄4-inches thick.” 

Additionally, structures within a high FIC area are required to have all eaves and soffits protected “by noncombustible material, ignition-resistant materials, or by materials approved for not less than 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction, 5⁄8-inch Type X drywall, 2-inch nominal dimension lumber, or 1 inch nominal fire-retardant-treated wood or 3⁄4 inch nominal fire-retardant-treated plywood.” 

A property’s designated FIC will also determine which site requirements the property owner must adhere to, including the removal of shrubs, slash, mulch, and other combustible planting debris.

This will also require pruning existing trees and prohibiting planting of any new trees, hardening of fences and retaining walls, and proper posting of road and address markers. 

There are several exemptions to the regulations laid out within the code, including any interior alterations of existing structures, particular alterations or repairs to the exterior of an existing structure, additions which do not increase the structure’s risk footprint by more than 200 square feet, or one-story detached accessories. Another exemption would be any “reconstruction, replacement, alteration, or repair of the exterior walls or roof covering of an existing building when less than 25 percent of the surface area of all exterior walls or roof covering is affected.” 

No action was required from the Board, who will continue to review the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code during their next meeting on March 18, before the matter will to go to vote for final adoption. 

Chief’s report

The Board received an update from Chief Charlie Schmidtmann’s monthly report regarding the calls of significance answered by the NFPD since late January. 

Crews responded to a vehicle crash in Eldora and two separate motorcycle accidents on Highway 119, one of which resulted in the motorcycle crashing into Boulder Canyon.  

A chimney fire on Ridge Road prompted a quick response from firefighters, though the fire was out by the time they had arrived. Firefighters also answered several fire alarms at one of the Town’s commercial businesses, which was later addressed within Fire Marshal Andrew Joslin’s monthly report.   

NFPD medical personnel attended to two separate injuries which occurred at Eldora Mountain Resort, both of which required the victims be transported to the hospital via helicopter.

Crews also tended to a patient who had been thrown from a horse, assisted Timberline Fire Protection District in aid of a two-year-old child suffering from respiratory problems, and helped a patient experiencing a near-syncopal episode from symptomatic bradycardia.

Regarding NFPD operations, Schmidtmann reported that he and Captain Glen Wheelock have continued discussions with Nederland Town Manager Jonathan Cain about the Town providing the NFPD with a new training center location. 

Wheelock is also working to create a Wildland Division for the department, while Schmidtmann continued to represent the District at several public meetings, including a Town Hall meeting on February 10, during which he expressed the strain that would befall the NFPD as a result of Nederland’s acquisition of Eldora Mountain Resort were it to come to fruition. 

Schmidtmann also attended Nederland’s Board of Trustees meeting on February 17 to speak on behalf of the NFPD during a discussion of a downtown overlay district, which proposes a 45-foot maximum height limit for new buildings.

Currently, the NFPD’s ladder truck can not reach beyond 35 feet, which is the Town’s existing build limit. Schmidtmann expressed that the increased height would limit firefighters’ ability to fight top floor fires in an efficient manner.

For a thorough report on this discussion, read Shay Castle’s article, “Caribou asbestos testing begins,” available here: https://www.themtnear.com/stories/caribou-asbestos-testing-begins-bot,83104.

Schmidtmann, along with Joslin, have begun discussions with the City of Boulder about the District’s need for a boat ramp to be constructed on Barker Reservoir to improve the NFPD’s emergency access. 

Additionally, the Fire Chief and Marshal have begun the preliminary process for a follow-up campaign to bring District residences’ address signage to compliance by ordering inexpensive signs and researching cheap but effective sign posts.

Captain Conor Moran was also commended in Schmidtmann’s report for his work designing and managing the District’s own EMT Program, which began in early February and is already considered a major success. Attendees were so excited about the program that they inadvertently ran down the ambulance’s battery during class, causing a need for some quick vehicle maintenance from Joslin. 

Fire Marshal’s report

Joslin delivered his monthly report to the Board stating that, though there were 34 active construction projects in the District, the submission of any new permit applications or plan reviews, as well as calls for general inspections, has slowed down significantly.  

Regarding issues of fire and safety compliance at the Nederland Community Center and the Town’s US Post Office—most notably, issues with alarms and sprinklers at both buildings, and a concerning lack of proper egress in the community center’s west wing—Joslin reported the clean-up process of the west wing was going well. However, progress at the Post Office was currently slow to begin. 

A non-compliant sprinkler system for a large mixed-use structure in town caused multiple “water flow” alarms, prompting response from the NFPD. According to Joslin’s report, the owner of the building is aware of the issue and is hiring another contractor to complete the sprinkler repairs. As both the sprinkler and alarm systems are active, the building is not currently under “fire watch.”

In addition to the adoption of the Wildfire Resiliency Code, and the new campaign to bring District address signage to compliance, Joslin highlighted the recent testing of the improvements made to the fire station’s WIFI infrastructure, which experienced bandwidth issues during the heavily attended EMT Program. 

The Nederland Fire Protection District Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of every month. Meetings can be attended online via Microsoft Teams. Their next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 7 p.m. 

For more information go to: https://www.nfpd.org.