Residents urge Lake County to designate Markham Pond as fire suppression resource; commissioners agree to work session

Residents of Twin Lakes asked the Lake County Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 19 to begin the county-level process for designating Markham Pond (also referred to as the Twin Lakes pond / Markham Pond) as a county fire suppression pond, saying the pond meets the statutory safety and access criteria and would improve emergency response time for that community.

The request matters because Twin Lakes is surrounded by national forest and residents and speakers told the board that a nearby pond could allow firefighters to refill engines without leaving the immediate area during a wildfire, potentially reducing response time to a community with many older residents and numerous historic structures.

At the meeting, Kelly Sweeney of Twin Lakes described the pond’s current water source and said it meets the statutory criteria for fire suppression pond designation, including that it is not within 1,000 feet of a hybrid or cistern and that it has sustained flow due to the substitute water supply arrangements now in place. Sweeney urged the county to notify the state engineer at the Colorado Division of Water Resources that the county “is considering designating the Markham Pond as an exempt fire suppression pond,” a procedural step the residents said would move a state review forward.

Larry Markham, a Twin Lakes resident, said the dry hydrant and intake pipe installed decades earlier by the volunteer fire department have been cleaned and inspected and that the county fire department has already inspected and improved the hydrant. “When, not if, we face a wildfire, every second counts,” Markham said, adding the designation would allow firefighters to refill locally and help protect residents and historic structures.

Jan Morzell, another resident of Twin Lakes, told commissioners that community support is strong and that volunteers had supplied historic aerial photos and other documentation to show the pond’s historical presence and suitability for designation.

Commissioners did not take formal action to designate the pond during the meeting. Instead, staff and the board agreed to schedule a work session so county staff, Leadville Lake County Fire personnel and residents can align on next steps, confirm application materials and determine what the county will submit to the state engineer. County staff said the item would be placed on a work session agenda so the board could review the application package together and decide who would take the formal step of notifying the state engineer.

Speakers emphasized the designation would cost the county nothing and is a procedural step that enables state-level review and approval. Residents raised concerns that prior boards had not acted on similar requests and urged the current board to move forward promptly.

The board’s next procedural step is a work session to be scheduled by county staff; no final decision on designation was made at the Aug. 19 meeting.