1. How will climate change continue to impact wildfire risk in grassland environments? What Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) best practices apply within these areas and what efforts in the built environment will be most effective in reducing risk from grassland wildfires? What strategies are recommended for effective adoption and implementation of WUI codes? Elected officials in each jurisdiction contemplated WUI codes to varying degrees in the months immediately after the fire but have yet to adopt WUI requirements.
2. How did the Marshall Fire impact housing and housing affordability in the short term and what is the anticipated effect in the long term? What steps can the communities take in response to the Marshall Fire that would reduce the negative impact on housing affordability in terms of both rentals and for-sale products?
3. Each jurisdiction is also interested in applying the lessons learned from the Marshall Fire to inform the development of recovery and resiliency plans and better position our communities for future risks. What mid-term and long-term recovery and resiliency challenges should we expect?
4. Several factors played a role in considering adoption of WUI codes, including underinsurance and rebuilding costs, and other community-driven discussions around rebuilding regulations such as energy codes and fire sprinklers. Each jurisdiction felt pressure to both alleviate rebuilding costs and the need to quickly provide direction on rebuilding requirements so residents could have predictability. Consequently, decisions were not always made with complete information. How would having a specific wildland fire component within a recovery plan have potentially improved outcomes in recovery efforts?
5. Resident engagement has been critical to decision-making, but engagement with displaced residents has also been challenging and participation levels have varied. What level of engagement is reasonable post disaster? How might decision-making be impacted post-disaster and what steps can be taken to ensure community-wide decisions receive the attention of the broader community?

Why is This Panel Needed?

On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire began around 11:00 a.m. near the historic community of Marshall in Boulder County. Within a few hours, the fire had spread across open spaces/grasslands into the residential neighborhoods of eastern unincorporated Boulder County, the Town of Superior, and the City of Louisville. By that evening, over 6,000 acres were burned, and more than 1,100 structures were destroyed or sustained significant damage.

In the Rocky Mountain west, wildfires are expected and common in the forested areas. The Marshall Fire event was an unusual grassland fire within suburban communities that lead to a significant loss in property. Neither Superior nor Louisville had adopted or really contemplated wildland urban interface (WUI) building requirements. In addition to exploring WUI best practices and receiving guidance on implementation strategies, the City of Louisville and Town of Superior are also interested in understanding and better preparing for disaster impacts on housing, as Colorado’s front range, Boulder County in particular, were already faced with housing shortages and affordable housing challenges prior to the Marshall Fire. Both Louisville and Superior also wish to explore common mid-term and long-term disaster recovery issues and challenges, while focusing on fire resiliency and our communities’ changing housing needs.

About Urban Land Institute's Advisory Services

Since 1947, the national Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Advisory Services program has assembled 400+ ULI-member teams to help communities find solutions for issues including downtown redevelopment, community revitalization, and affordable housing, among other matters. Each panel is composed of qualified and unbiased professionals who volunteer their time. Panel chairs are respected ULI members with previous panel experience. For more information, visit Urban Land Institute's advisory services webpage.