Douglas County allocates $100,000 in PILT funding to six fire districts serving Pike National Forest

Douglas County staff told commissioners on Feb. 18 that the county will distribute $100,000 in federal payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILT) funds among six local fire protection districts that respond to incidents within Pike National Forest.

Josh Lewis, a county staff member, presented the PILT program and said the funding is intended to support the six districts that respond to incidents within the portion of Pike National Forest inside Douglas County. Lewis said Pike National Forest manages about "40,000 acres of forest lands within the county" and that the county has provided supplemental funding to the local districts "beginning in 2002 and every year thereafter." He said the 2025 allocation totals $100,000 and that distribution is based on a cost-per-call figure of $662; the districts recorded 51 responses into the Pike National Forest in 2024.

Chiefs from several districts described how they plan to spend their shares. Tim McCauley, fire chief for Larkspur Fire Protection District, said, "We'll be spending our money on PPE and wildland equipment for the staff to better respond to emergencies." Abby Parker, a captain with Mountain Communities Fire, said her volunteer department plans to buy "wildland fire gear for our firefighters, progressive hose packs, and additional fire hose for our main station in West Creek." Curt Rogers, chief of North Fork Fire Protection District, said the district will spend funds on "PPE, wildland PPE, and structural PPE" and noted a recent Trumbull-area wildland fire that "burned about 3 and a half acres." John Orbez, chief of West Douglas Fire Protection District, said his district has been saving PILT funds for water tanks and expects the new allocation to go toward that project in coordination with the U.S. Forest Service.

The presentation noted that many of the responding departments are staffed primarily or entirely by volunteers and that the responding duties include not only wildland fires but structure fires, vehicle fires, medical emergencies, motor-vehicle crashes and search-and-rescue missions. Commissioners thanked the chiefs and invited them to participate in the county's Wildfire Action Collaborative and other coordination efforts with federal and state partners. There was no vote on the presentation; it was an informational item.

No representative attended from Jackson 105 and no representative from West Metro Fire spoke at the meeting.

The county chair and commissioners framed the funding as part of broader wildfire mitigation planning; the chair told chiefs the county recently met with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Forest Service to discuss wildfire risk and encouraged continued coordination on projects such as locating water tanks on National Forest land.

The county did not present a new ordinance, contract, or formal vote tied to the PILT presentation at the Feb. 18 meeting. Commissioners asked no formal questions after the chiefs' remarks and invited the departments to join follow-up coordination and a photo at the dais.

Ending: County staff and the fire districts said the funds will be used on equipment and infrastructure needs identified by the districts. Because the item was presented for information, commissioners did not take a formal action that would direct additional county spending beyond the announced distribution mechanism.