BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — This month, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) launched a new, public-facing online portal to track open burns in the county.
The website is a revamped version of the county’s existing Open Burning program, designed to streamline the data for dispatchers and first responders while giving the public a tool to see where registered burns are happening.
Boulder County requires people to get a permit for slash burns or open burns in unincorporated Boulder County and requires people to register for agricultural burns (those do not require a formal permit). Previously, someone reporting a burn would notify the county by phone. Now, they can register the details of their burn online.
“That kind of helps dispatch out by putting it on a map that everyone can see, and ultimately to lessen the calls they get for smoke reports,” explained Kyle Holsinger, fire operations specialist for Boulder County.
BCSO says the previous system was application-based, not a digital map that allowed the county to track active burns live. They hope this new portal will not only better organize the information but also be useful in case there are any questions about fires.
“If we get a smoke report, the address comes up and we can look at the map and say, 'It could be this burn, it could be something like that.' It’s helpful,” he said.
It’s also a tool for the public. After the Marshall Fire, NCAR Fire, and others in recent years, smoke can trigger a lot of anxiety for people in Boulder County.
The county encourages people to check this digital reference before calling 911 to report smoke.
“You look at the map as a citizen, and it's more peace of mind," Holsinger said. "You say, 'See a column over here...' and then, 'Oh, I have this map I can look at, they’re doing a burn back there, it’s probably it.'”
On a high wind day, this new system also lets Boulder County prevent any new burn registrations with the goal of stopping a problematic burn before it starts.
In the coming months, BCSO has plans to improve the technology further. They’d like to include other legal burns on the map, like those conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, various agencies and even ceremonial burns. They also want to connect this portal to wildfire camera systems across Boulder County.
“This is about transparency. This so they see this many permits going on, I think it should bring a different level of trust to fire departments, to the county. We’re tracking, they can see we’re staying on top of it,” Holsinger said.
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