The Town of Lyons is considering an ordinance that would make it the first town in Colorado to require existing homeowners — not just new construction — to complete wildfire mitigation work on their properties. The proposal comes two years after the Stone Canyon Fire tore through the area near Lyons, destroying several homes and killing one person, according to fire officials.
According to Denver7, the Lyons building department outlined a potential ordinance in a July 30 memo, and the Board of Trustees discussed enforcement and cost concerns about the plan on Aug. 3. Trustees revived talks about a wildfire ordinance in July after adopting Colorado’s statewide Wildfire Resiliency Code earlier this year. That state code, created under Senate Bill 23-166, sets structural hardening and defensible space standards for new construction, additions and major exterior alterations over 500 square feet in wildland-urban interface zones — but it exempts existing home interiors, minor repairs and routine maintenance, according to the Town of Lyons.
Mark Browning, of the Lyons building department, said state requirements for wildfire-resistant materials in new homes and remodels will not provide enough protection for the town, the report notes. With roughly 740 residential properties in Lyons and only about 10 vacant residential lots left, the vast majority of the town’s housing stock predates the new state code and would otherwise remain untouched by it.
What the Draft Ordinance Would Require
Under the potential ordinance, homeowners would be required to replace wood fences connected to homes, add mesh screens on outside vents, clear combustible materials within five feet of homes, and remove debris and flammable vegetation from under decks. That focus on five-foot noncombustible perimeters and vent mesh retrofits stems from technical analysis presented to town officials showing that airborne ember showers blown ahead of flame fronts are the leading cause of structural ignition in wildfire zones — with embers capable of traveling more than a mile on strong winds…