While some people are still thinking about snow and skiing this spring, area wildfire officials are planning for the upcoming fire season with a countywide stakeholders meeting set for March 29.

The Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council will host the meeting for invited fire officials to discuss implementation of the county’s updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan that was completed in September. The countywide plan replaces the previous plan from 2010 and was created after more than a year of collaboration between key stakeholders and community members. The plan will be used to guide the future of wildfire preparedness and identify strategies for wildfire resilience and mitigation across the community.

Josh Hankes, executive director of the nonprofit wildfire council, said the community plan highlights more than 170 proposed wildfire mitigation projects divided into four key priorities of countywide impact — including life safety, critical infrastructure, economic drivers and property.

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The projects that identify vulnerabilities are each assigned to various implementation leaders ranging from municipal fire departments to federal agencies. The projects largely address hazardous fuels reduction, but also propose road improvements, hardening of adjacent private property, capacity building, infrastructure hardening, and ingress and egress protection.

Examples of the highlighted life safety priorities range from improving county road evacuation routes, creating fire fuels breaks and providing first responder training for all phases of wildfire response.

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Critical infrastructure that warrants protection through wildfire mitigation projects include such examples as cell phone repeater and radio tower sites, water and wastewater plants, reservoirs, dams, natural gas and propane supply locations, and critical power line and transformer sites.

Economic drivers across the county that are listed in need of wildfire mitigation range from state parks and airports, to hospitals and ski areas. The property priorities range from the Clark Store to North Routt Community Charter School and numerous neighborhoods across the county.

“We need to trust our implementation leaders to make decisions based on opportunity, capacity, community momentum and conditions on the ground,” Hankes said of the long list of priorities that will be tackled as funding and resources are available.

The updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan is available for review online at Routtwildfire.org/community-wildfire-protection-plan.

Community members can get involved in wildfire mitigation efforts through supporting homeowner association projects, volunteering to become a wildfire council neighborhood ambassador and preparing family evacuation plans.

Hankes advised three low-hanging fruits that everyone in the county should do. First, sign up for county emergency alerts at RouttCountyAlerts.com, especially for cell phones that must be entered by residents. Create a list of prioritized items to gather in case of an evacuation and prepare using Ready, Set, Go! guidelines. Set an appropriate backup exit plan in case the main exit from a home or neighborhood is blocked.

“Thinking about the what-ifs (in advance) helps you to overcome them in an event,” Hankes said. “Prioritize what in your household is most important if you had to grab stuff in 60 minutes or less.”

When there is only one road in and out of a neighborhood, it becomes even more essential to be notified by the county alert system as soon as possible in case of a wildfire emergency, according to Hankes.

Community members can also plan to attend one of four regional community outreach meetings planned for May, hosted by the mitigation council with dates forthcoming at RouttWildfire.org. The meetings in Steamboat and north, south and west Routt aim to engage residents and energize local mitigation efforts.

In addition to helping with the completion of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan last year, the wildfire council started a free countywide chipping program, hosted a mitigation project on Emerald Mountain with Team Rubicon and Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue, started a targeted study about social attitudes toward wildfire in partnership with the Wildfire Research Center, and supported several county neighborhoods to submit applications for Firewise USA recognition.

So far, the neighborhoods of Elk Ridge in north Routt and Marabou Ranch have earned Firewise USA recognition. Hankes said the wildfire council is helping 10 additional neighborhoods across the county with Firewise USA applications.