VIDEO: The Colorado Springs Fire Department is seeing record participation in its wildfire mitigation program this summer. Mitigation is always encouraged, but this year there is misuse of the program happening and it is causing crews to fall behind schedule.
"We don’t want to discourage anybody from doing mitigation work, but this is also why we are behind because homeowners are putting storm damage stuff that necessarily isn’t mitigation work,” said, Ashley Whitworth, the Wildfire Mitigation Administrator at CSFD.
CSFD added more money to the mitigation program this year. It allowed the addition of a third chipping crew.
Despite the additional resources, wildfire mitigation chipping crews are overwhelmed by how much debris has been left behind.