Wildland Program History
In 2007, the Boulder Emergency Squad approached the Boulder County Wildland Fire Cooperators about expanding JointFire into the wildland arena. The Cooperators wrote a letter of support to the Boulder County Commissioners, as did Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, and BES was given a grant of $10,000 to pilot the wildland training program in 2008. The Boulder County Firefighters Association also provided $2,000 to support the development of the program.
Towards the end of 2008, BES again approached the Boulder County Commissioners with the support of Sheriff Joe Pelle, the Boulder County Firefighters Association, and numerous area fire chiefs to present their results from the 2008 pilot program. In its first year, the program put 283 students through annual refreshers, in addition to offering 2 local-level NWCG courses. With all of their support, the Boulder County Commissioners again gave BES a $10,000 grant to continue the program through 2009.
Currently, the JointFire wildland offerings include annual refreshers, physical testing ("the pack test"), and local-level NWCG courses.
Download the original wildland program proposal in PDF...
Download the original wildland program proposal PowerPoint presentation in PDF...