Eagle Valley’s Wildfire Risk Transformation

When Hugh Fairfield-Smith helped launch the Eagle Valley Wildland Program in 2019, the idea of coordinated, county-wide wildfire mitigation was still an uphill climb. At the time, the team had no full-time staff, minimal budget, and a mountain of risk to address. But by 2020, Hugh had brought on the first two crew members, laying the foundation for what would become one of Colorado’s most strategic and locally driven wildfire programs.

Now part of the Eagle River Fire Protection District, Hugh leads a growing six-person team focused on shifting wildfire response from reactive to proactive. Their approach is grounded in operational readiness, collaborative fuels treatment, and a clear understanding of how fire moves across the valley’s diverse landscape.

Led by ERFPD, the Eagle Valley Wildland Program grew to include three fire districts, Eagle County, and 29+ community partners, including towns, HOAs, and Metro districts. By 2023, the team had treated more than 2,000 acres and built 33 miles of tactical fuel breaks, laying the physical foundation that XyloPlan’s data would later help optimize.

As the program matured and funding grew, so did the stakes. With more land to protect and more partners at the table, the Eagle Valley Wildland Program needed a new level of clarity to determine where mitigation should begin and identify which acres mattered most.

That turning point came in 2024, when the team partnered with XyloPlan. Using scenario-based wildfire modeling, XyloPlan visualized how fire would likely move through the landscape, highlighting high-risk Fire Pathways and Conflagration Blocks, and identifying the most effective treatment areas to reduce fire spread. The analysis provided prioritized mitigation zones and estimated the “minutes gained” for firefighting response if those treatments were implemented, quantifying the potential impact of targeted action.

A New Way to See the Risk

Before working with XyloPlan, the Eagle Valley team used Simtable visualizations, field experience, and community conversations to guide their risk mitigation efforts, shape their vegetation treatment planning, and identify opportunities for engagement and funding. But they needed a clearer way to show why certain treatment locations mattered most. “When fire comes into the urban area it can get into the drainage, where it could to move up, down, sideways, and take out entire neighborhoods,” said Hugh.

By simulating how wildfire spreads, based on slope, fuels, wind patterns, and structure layout, XyloPlan identified Fire Pathways: the most likely routes fire would take through the landscape during a fast-moving wildfire. The analysis also flagged Conflagration Blocks, areas of dense development capable of structure-to-structure ignition.

To mitigate that risk, XyloPlan recommended data-driven treatments designed to interrupt Fire Pathways, slow fire’s arrival and transition to the built environment, and add critical time for firefighting response and organized evacuation.

From Risk Maps to Real Results

In town councils, HOA meetings, and one-on-one discussions with landowners, Hugh used XyloPlan’s visuals to change minds, and unlock funding. “This wasn’t just a report. It gave us a roadmap,” said Hugh. “It helped us align our treatments with the actual threat. Three years of pushback would disappear in five minutes once I showed them. “They’d see the fire behavior, the ember cast, the impact. That changed everything.”

Armed with these insights, Eagle Valley Wildland Program secured funding and approvals for key projects:

• Red Hill / Gypsum: Modeling showed how a 90-acre treatment could protect both homes and critical winter habitat, leading to funding by Colorado Parks & Wildlife.
• Lake Creek / Edwards: A stalled land-use agreement was revived and $450K in funding secured to protect a mobile home park housing the area’s essential workforce.
• Beaver Creek / Arrowhead: Fire Pathway modeling helped justify a $15M investment in an automated snowmaking system that now doubles as remote-controlled fire suppression.
• Defensible Space + Code Adoption: Urban fire spread modeling supported over 500 defensible space assessments and spurred updates to local fire codes.

Treatment suitability map highlights where mitigation delivers the greatest impact, showing relative benefits across the landscape.

Fire Pathways modeling showed likely wildfire pathways toward the mobile home park, guiding upwind mitigations to slow spread.

Conflagration Blocks identified where dense structures were likely to drive structure-to-structure fire spread, threatening the community’s core housing.

Urban fire spread modeling highlighted the risk of fire jumping the river if the mobile home park ignited, underscoring the importance of proactive treatments.

Closing the Gap Between Insight and Action

The Eagle Valley Wildland Program manages funding, compliance, and contracting for mitigation projects across an entire region. XyloPlan gave the program the clarity and confidence to scale efficiently. “It made my job easier,” Hugh said. “The maps gave us 10 years of work. Smart work.”

Through visuals, community engagement, and strategic data use, Eagle Valley is changing mindsets by making wildfire mitigation actionable, achievable, and locally led. Hugh continues to frame the work in terms of evolution: from operational readiness to ecosystem resilience. “We started by asking how to win the firefight,” he said. “Now we’re asking how to restore the landscape so the fight doesn’t start.”

The shift from reactive defense to proactive design continues to define the Eagle Valley model. And with the right tools, Hugh believes more communities can follow suit. “We started with $5,000 and a vision,” Hugh said. “Last year, we spent $7 million. And if I had $50 million this year, I could put every dollar to good use. That’s how much need there is. But thanks to this model, we know where to start.”

Dave Winnacker, XyloPlan Chief Wildfire Risk Officer sees Eagle Valley as a model of what’s possible. “What the Eagle Valley team has done is extraordinary. They’ve unified leadership across jurisdictions, used science to guide investment, and turned modeled mitigations into meaningful action.”

To learn more or request a wildfire risk assessment, contact info@xyloplan.com.