When a fire breaks out in Glenwood Springs or there is a medical emergency in a rural part of the district, residents expect a fast, skilled response from the fire department. For 140 years, the Glenwood Springs Fire Department has delivered exactly that. But the funding approach that makes that possible is no longer sufficient, and without a serious community conversation about long-term funding, the services residents depend on are at risk.

A complex department serving a demanding region

The department protects a 72-square-mile service area that includes 8 square miles within the city of Glenwood Springs and 64 square miles of rugged rural terrain in Garfield County. That rural landscape includes the steep Glenwood Canyon, an active coal seam and a significant wildland-urban interface where neighborhoods meet national forest land. The district serves an estimated 16,000 full-time residents and a daytime population of more than 21,000 in its response area. The department also provides mutual aid to communities throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.

Call volume is rising, and in 2025, the department responded to 2,520 incidents, with roughly 64% of calls for EMS services. An aging population, more visitors and heavier highway traffic all contribute. In short, the department is busier than ever, with no sign of that changing.

The funding gap: How we got here

The city receives a mill levy of approximately $3.1 million, and the fire district contributes another $1.3 million. These funds are transferred to the fire department and the fire equipment replacement fund. However, costs to operate the department exceed property tax revenues by approximately $2.9 million each year.

To cover that gap, the city has been subsidizing fire operations with roughly $1.7 million annually from the general fund, tobacco tax fund and marijuana tax fund, which were never intended to fund fire operations permanently. The general fund has run deficits for two consecutive years, mostly due to this subsidy, and is not sustainable in the long term. The state has been reducing the assessment rate in the past few years. In 2024, it limited a jurisdiction’s property tax collection to a certain percentage of growth, putting even more downward pressure on revenue.

A department that shows up despite staffing challenges

Personnel make up 75% to 80% of operating costs, and the department is already short-staffed. When someone is sick or on leave, crews have to respond to calls without a full crew. To this point, the department has not experienced much attrition, which is a testament to an exceptionally strong departmental culture. But that loyalty has limits, and retaining fully trained personnel becomes harder when neighboring jurisdictions increase pay by passing sales or property tax increases. Of the five agencies in Garfield and Pitkin counties that the department competes with for talent, four have passed a sales or property tax in the past five years to increase staffing and wages. The fifth is planning a ballot measure this November.

The city currently has an ISO rating of Class 2, which is good, but that is due to strong water and hydrant infrastructure. Understaffing reduces the rating and will continue to do so if the problem persists. If that rating drops, property insurance premiums set by insurance providers could rise for every homeowner and business in the city and district, and some places in the rural district may not be able to obtain insurance at all.

Grants help, but can’t be the only plan

The department has had remarkable success securing grants for wildfire mitigation, including $1.64 million in 2025 through the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program and the Natural Disaster Mitigation Enterprise program. These funds support critical fuel-reduction work, protecting homes and water infrastructure throughout the district. The department’s emergency services coordinator completed 42 wildfire home assessments in 2025, a 50% increase over the prior year, and collaborated on planned burns near Linwood Cemetery. This work matters enormously, especially as wildfire risk grows across the region.

But wildfire mitigation is not currently in the department’s base budget, and these grants are for a specific purpose and are not guaranteed. Controlled burns, defensible space assessments and cross-boundary fuel management need to be a permanent part of how we protect this community, not a line item that appears and disappears based on competitive grant funding.

What’s at stake

If the funding gap is not addressed, residents may start to feel it in longer response times, higher insurance rates and the possibility of occasional station closures. The men and women of this department show up every day with skill and dedication. We will lose them if they are not paid competitively or if the job becomes more dangerous because the department is not properly staffed for calls.

Attend the State of Public Safety: Police and Fire Q&A

The city will host a community meeting Tuesday, June 10, at the Glenwood Springs Community Center for the State of Public Safety, a Q&A with the fire and police departments. This will be an opportunity to learn about fire preparedness, mitigation and more. We hope to see you there.

The Financial Advisory Board is a City Council-appointed group of community volunteers that meets monthly to advise and assist the city manager and finance director in preparing the city budget, establishing accounting systems for the city, planning expenses, projecting revenues and analyzing other fiscal matters presented to the board by City Council.

To learn more or apply to be a member of the Financial Advisory Board, complete the online application form at cogs.us/FAB.

Ksana Oglesby is chair of the City of Glenwood Springs Financial Advisory Board.