Fighting wildfires is a year-round job all Coloradans must support

By Daily Camera guest opinion | openforum@dailycamera.com | Boulder Daily Camera

PUBLISHED: July 20, 2026 at 5:00 AM MDT

By Bob Beauprez

The deaths of three firefighters on the Snyder Fire near the Western Slope are a heartbreaking reminder of the courage we ask of the men and women who stand between our communities and disaster. 

In moments like this, our first duty is gratitude. Gratitude for Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson, and for every firefighter still working in smoke, heat and danger. Gratitude for the families who carry the burden of that service. Gratitude for local sheriffs, volunteer departments, incident commanders, foresters, road crews, dispatchers and neighbors who rally together when fire comes.

Boulder County is no stranger to wildfires. The everlasting heartache, fear and historical devastation of the 2021 Marshall Fire will forever be with us. My hope is that out of this latest tragedy, all Coloradans come to gain a greater appreciation for the unsung heroic work that many of these first responders do year-round. Work that is integral not only to fighting fire, but to preparing for fire.

Too few know that when the news cameras leave, many of the same heroes we see on TV will return to the work that occupies most of their year. Not fighting fires but preparing forests, grasslands and neighborhoods for when fire arrives. 

Their quiet dedication to that underappreciated task is year-round. Our firefighters, foresters and landowners in Colorado collaborate in caring for our forests, preparing communities, restoring healthier landscapes, and making it safer for firefighters to do their jobs when the call comes.

What they do before the fire matters tremendously. It matters to the family trying to save a home. It matters to the rancher watching a livelihood go up in smoke. It matters to the small business owner wondering whether visitors will return to scarred landscapes. It matters to the firefighter making split-second decisions in steep country, high wind and dry timber.

Healthy forests do not just happen. Like our homes, our ranches, our gardens and our communities, they require care. 

That care may look different in different places. The details matter, and professionals should lead the strategy in close collaboration with the community. 

But the larger truth is simple: By caring for the forests, grasslands and neighborhoods, we protect what Coloradans love — our homes, our water, our open spaces, our trails, our wildlife, and the Colorado way of life we hope to pass on to our children and grandchildren.

We owe so much to this quiet year-round collaboration. Recreation, tourism, agriculture, housing, insurance, public health and local budgets all feel the effects. Boulder County may be far from Pueblo or Grand Junction on a map, but every Coloradan has a stake in whether our forests are healthier and our communities are safer.

The good news is that this is one issue that unites us across politics, age or place. Coloradans may disagree about certain things, but we all share in the commitment that caring for the environment we treasure is necessary and vital to protecting lives, homes, forests and open spaces from the worst outcomes of uncontrolled wildfire. 

Whatever small differences exist on the details, that mandate is overwhelming. That means funding and permitting of forest health work that meets the urgency this moment demands. It means supporting foresters and firefighters before they are standing in front of a wall of flame. It means listening to local communities, empowering property owners, and giving land managers the tools to act at the scale this challenge requires.

Today, our hearts are with the fallen, the injured, the families who love them and all who have been impacted by these fires. 

The fires burning now will eventually be contained. The question is whether our commitment will be. 

Let this be the season Colorado remembers not only the danger of wildfire, but the duty we share before fire arrives.

Bob Beauprez is a native Coloradan and resident of Boulder County. He represented CO-07 in Congress from 2003-07 and was twice the Republican candidate for Governor. Currently, he operates a family bison breeding ranch in the northern Colorado mountains.