Talking about how wildfire affects the state and why mitigation is important is a complex concept. This was a fun and challenging visual interpretation of data collected by a Colorado State Forest Service partner agency, Headwaters Economics. Their research quantified the final total costs of the Hayman Fire, laid out in pages and pages of tables in a report.
I worked with the wildfire mitigation specialist at CSFS to distill the data and create this graphic that shows how the costs of this fire were spread over time, and how a community and state ends up paying dearly for wildfires long after the blaze is put out. Many people don’t realize that the majority of wildfire expenses happen after firefighters have contained a fire on the ground. It was a pertinent message delivered during the record-setting 2020 wildfire season, when costs of these blazes was top of mind in the public.
USE: Social Media posts on FB/TW
POST: Is mitigation worth it? Yes. The Hayman Fire stats show how wildfires cost homeowners and communities millions, even after a blaze is extinguished.
#COWildfireAware2020 #ColoradoWUI #MitigationWorks
Amy Bulger 