After the Fire

After a catastrophic wildfire, quick action must be taken to minimize social, environmental, and economic devastation. Responsive action requires navigating a complex maze of diverse landowners, community organizations, and numerous local and federal requirements.

Given enough time, forests eventually heal from wildfire, but that healing process can take decades or even centuries. They simply won’t heal quickly without human intervention. Timely rehabilitation efforts reduce the environmental impacts of fire and can have a positive impact on the community’s social and economic situation in the months and years after the fire. Perhaps most importantly, quick and effective rehabilitation efforts improve public health and safety.

This page is intended to provide website links containing valuable post-fire recovery and restoration information. We hope it will prove useful in helping your community establish plans and priorities that protect its citizens, homes, essential infrastructure and resources from the destruction that occurs after a catastrophic wildfire.

The post-wildfire playbook was developed for counties, tribes, municipalities, and water providers since they are typically the entities most directly and immediately impacted by wildfire and post-fire erosion and flooding, yet there is a gap in guidance in terms of navigating the complexities surrounding post-fire rehabilitation. This Post-fire playbook is designed to help fill that gap, by serving as an actionable worksheet that includes specific and critical steps to take and contacts to make before, during, and within the first 30 days of a fire to facilitate the process.

You can access and download the Post-fire Playbook here.

Information for Colorado Wildfire Recovery

State Guides for Land Management & Restoration