THREE MILE FUELS REDUCTION

The Three Mile area of Glenwood Springs is one of the highest-risk wildfire zones in Garfield County, designated as a priority treatment area in the county's Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Additionally, this zone has evacuation challenges and limited cell phone services. Together, these reasons highlight why the Wildfire Collaborative is working in this area to reduce hazardous vegetation, improve emergency access, and support homeowners in strengthening their properties against wildfire.

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 City of Glenwood Springs and Glenwood Springs Fire to launch an advanced community wildfire modeling project with Dr. Hussam Mahmoud 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 the fall of 2025, the Collaborative secured an $860,000 grant from the USDA's Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program to turn these findings into immediate action. Once advanced modeling is finalized, this funding will support on-the-ground wildfire mitigation in the area, including targeted hazardous fuels reduction, improvements to key evacuation routes, and neighborhood-level strategies to lower structure-to-structure ignition potential.

Wildfire Resiliency in the Three-Mile Area of Glenwood

The Collaborative 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, communities and HOAs in this area are 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 the area, then identifies:

• Which structures are most vulnerable

• Which homes are most likely to transmit fire to others

• The likely “fire boundary” where the blaze could spread next

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

This allows the Three Mile community 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 us chart a path for Three Mile to become a safer, more resilient place to live, while protecting the character and beauty that make it such a special place.