Having a post-fire rapid response plan in place before fires occur is critical for protecting resources and mitigating erosion. Federal Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams rapidly assess burn severity and develop plans to mitigate post-fire hazards. Most fires on non-federal lands don’t trigger BAER and local land managers typically don’t have access to the resources that a BAER team provides. Here we share the post-fire response plan developed by Jefferson County Open Space, utilizing free and publicly available resources and tools, to assess burn severity and mitigate post-fire hazards. We will then share how we applied this plan to the Quarry Fire (August 2024) response and discuss lessons learned.

Experience Level: Intermediate