SNOWMASS

Snowmass Village sits in the center of one of Colorado’s highest-risk wildfire zones. Steep terrain, dense forests, drought-stressed vegetation, beetle-kill pockets, and only a few narrow evacuation routes all combine to create significant community-wide risk.

We're tackling this problem head on, in partnership with the Town of Snowmass Village and Roaring Fork Fire Rescue, to ensure that Snowmass becomes a wildfire-ready community.

Understanding Our Risk: Advanced Wildfire Modeling

To better understand where that risk is highest—and where mitigation will matter most—the Wildfire Collaborative partnered with the Town of Snowmass to launch an advanced community wildfire modeling project with Dr. Hussam Mahmound and his team of researchers at Vanderbilt University. 

The model analyzes how wildfire could move through full neighborhoods, not just individual homes. Learn more about the science behind advanced wildfire modeling. The modeling will be complete in early spring 2026 and will provide a clear, data-driven roadmap for reducing risk.

Turning Modeling Results Into Action

In November 2025, the Collaborative secured an $850,000 grant from the Natural Disaster Mitigation Enterprise to turn these findings into immediate action. Once the modeling is finalized, this funding will support on-the-ground wildfire mitigation in Snowmass Village, including targeted hazardous fuels reduction, improvements to key evacuation routes, and neighborhood-level strategies to lower structure-to-structure ignition potential. Snowmass is at the forefront of wildfire resiliency: this is the first project in Colorado to directly connect advanced wildfire modeling with an implementation-ready mitigation plan.

Wildfire Resiliency in Snowmass Village

Snowmass Village is taking a proactive, community-wide approach to reduce wildfire risk and protect residents, homes, and the landscapes that define this place. Through strong partnerships, science-based planning, and strategic investment, the community is embracing the work that must happen long before a wildfire threatens. This approach strengthens safety today while building long-term resilience for generations to come.

The model simulates how a wildfire could move through Snowmass and how people will travel in an evacuation, and then identifies:

• Which structures will likely survive a wildfire and which need additional protections (noting that individual home data is not released)

• Which homes are "superspreaders" for fire, meaning that they are most likely to transmit fire to others

• The likely “fire boundary” that indicates where and how a wildfire will spread in Snowmass Village

• What mitigation strategies will be the most successful and protecting lives and homes

• Which investments will make the biggest difference in community-wide resilience

This work allows Snowmass to prioritize mitigation in a strategic, data-driven way, focusing limited time and funding where it will reduce the most risk—whether that’s supporting individual homeowners, improving landscape-scale fuels, or strengthening critical community nodes.

As analysis continues, this model will help Snowmass chart a path toward becoming a safer, more resilient community, while protecting the character and beauty that make it such a special place.