Douglas County, CO Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

The Wildfire Hazard Overlay District (Douglas County Zoning Resolution Part 17) applies to all unincorporated areas the county's Wildfire Hazard Overlay District Map identifies as hazard areas, plus any parcel field-verified as one, under § 1-1703. Land use activities triggering the overlay include building permits for residential and non-residential structures, exemptions, rezoning, site improvement plans, subdivision, 35-acre-and-larger developments and use by special review, per § 1-1703(1)(A)-(G). Before the county processes any of those applications, § 1-1705 requires an on-site wildfire hazard assessment performed by the Douglas County Professional Forester or, if unavailable, an applicant-hired professional forester whose report the county forester must review and approve at the applicant's expense.

Where the assessment finds a hazard, § 1-1707 requires compliance with the Douglas County Wildfire Mitigation Standards (Exhibit B of the county's adopted International Building Code) and may require a Wildfire Mitigation or Forest Management Plan. General standards under § 1-1707 can force fuel modification plans prepared by a professional forester, two separate points of vehicular access (a divided-median entry does not count as two), roads and driveways built to the county's Roadway Design and Construction Standards, wildfire-specific street signage sized for visibility during a fire, and an emergency water supply meeting Exhibit C of the Building Code.

The Board of County Commissioners can approve, condition or deny the development based on this evidence under § 1-1708, and conditions can reach the land's physical and vegetative features, structure and road construction standards, and the density and location of the development itself.