Colorado homeowners can stack three separate layers of money against a wildfire mitigation project. The state offers an income tax credit worth up to $1,000 of documented mitigation costs in tax year 2026, rising to $2,000 and becoming refundable for tax years 2027 through 2030 under HB 26-1289. Counties and cities add direct cash: up to $500 countywide in Boulder County, up to $2,000 inside the City of Boulder, up to $500 more from the Town of Lyons, and a 50% match up to $25,000 in Douglas County. And since July 1, 2026, HB 25-1182 requires insurers using a wildfire risk model to either account for your mitigation or discount your premium for it.
The catch is sequence. Most programs require an assessment and written pre-approval before you start, and the state credit cannot be claimed on any dollar a grant already paid. Book a free assessment and we'll map your property against every program you qualify for before anyone picks up a saw.
Reviewed August 2026. Program amounts, deadlines and funding availability change frequently — confirm current terms with the administering agency before you start work.
What's available, and to whom
Eligibility in Colorado is decided by county line, then by municipal boundary, then by fire district. This table is the fastest way to find your row. Details, deadlines and application mechanics follow below.
| Program | Who it covers | Amount | Form | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado wildfire mitigation tax credit CRS 39-22-543 | Individual landowners statewide, under an income cap | Up to $1,000 (TY2026); up to $2,000 and refundable (TY2027–2030) | Income tax credit | Active |
| WUI mitigation income tax subtraction | Property in a Colorado wildland-urban interface area | Deduction of out-of-pocket costs | Income tax subtraction | Active |
| Insurer mitigation credit HB 25-1182 | Any Colorado property policyholder | Varies by carrier; no set percentage | Premium discount or model input | In effect since Jul 1, 2026 |
| Wildfire Partners General Rebate | All Boulder County residents, owners and renters | Up to $500 | Rebate | Apply by Oct 8; claims by Oct 29 |
| Wildfire Partners need-based assistance | Income-qualified Boulder County residents | Up to 100% of eligible costs | Grant | Ongoing |
| City of Boulder WRAP | Properties in the City of Boulder WUI | Up to $2,000 per property | Rebate, pre-approved | Apply by Oct 1; complete by Dec 1 |
| Town of Lyons rebate | Lyons property owners | Up to $500 match | Rebate | First come, first served |
| Larimer County HIZ MAP | Cherokee Meadows, Crystal Lakes, Glacier View, Poudre Canyon | Up to $4,000 per parcel | Contractor-delivered work | Open; runs through 2029 |
| Larimer Community Mitigation Grant | Neighborhoods, HOAs, community groups | Varies by award | Grant | 2026 awards made; work ends Nov 2 |
| Jefferson County SLASH | Anyone hauling residential slash | About $20 per load | Low-cost disposal | Seasonal, roughly May–Oct |
| Douglas County Cost-Share | Douglas County homeowners, HOAs, communities | 50% match up to $25,000 | Reimbursement paid to contractor | Spring round closed; second round anticipated |
| Douglas County GreenWorks slash-mulch | Douglas County residents with ID | Free drop-off, free mulch | Free disposal | Open seasonally |
| Denver | City and County of Denver | No municipal rebate identified | — | State programs only |
Colorado HB 26-1289: a bigger, refundable mitigation tax credit
House Bill 26-1289 is a broad tax-expenditure cleanup bill — it touches everything from cigarette vendor allowances to sustainable aviation fuel. Section 9 is the part that matters to homeowners. It rewrites the wildfire hazard mitigation credit at CRS 39-22-543, and it is the most significant expansion that credit has seen since it was created.
Governor Polis signed the act on June 3, 2026. It took effect on passage.
What changed
The ceiling doubles
For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027 and before January 1, 2031, the maximum credit per landowner rises from $1,000 to $2,000. The credit still equals your actual costs up to that ceiling — it is not a percentage.
The income test opens up
The old test was federal taxable income at or below $120,000, indexed for inflation. From tax year 2027 it becomes adjusted gross income at or below $300,000, also indexed. That brings most Front Range and foothills households into range.
You get it even with no tax due
Previously, credit in excess of your tax liability was simply lost — no refund, no carryforward. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, the excess is refunded to the taxpayer. That matters enormously for retirees on fixed incomes doing expensive defensible-space work.
Infestation work now qualifies
The act adds a definition of infestation mitigation measures: thinning woody vegetation at risk of, or already killed by, mountain pine beetle or spruce beetle. Work must meet or exceed Colorado State Forest Service standards. Previously this only counted if it doubled as wildfire mitigation.
The marriage penalty is gone
Statute used to cap the credit at $625 for two taxpayers filing a joint return while a single filer could claim $1,000. HB 26-1289 strikes that: the credit is now the same amount whether claimed by one taxpayer or by a couple filing jointly. This change carries no future effective date, so it applies now.
A long runway
The credit had been scheduled to repeal on January 1, 2030. The act pushes repeal to January 1, 2040, though the expanded $2,000 tier is written to run through tax year 2030. Long enough to plan a phased, multi-year hardening project around.
The act tightens the definition of landowner to an individual owner of record. Partnerships, S corporations and similar entities that hold private land are no longer eligible. If your mountain property is titled to an LLC for liability reasons, talk to your tax preparer before you count on this credit — and note that the Department of Revenue's guidance has only ever addressed individual filers.
What has not changed
- Eligible work is defined broadly. Creating defensible space around structures, establishing fuel breaks, thinning woody vegetation to reduce risk to structures, and secondary treatment of woody fuels by lopping and scattering, piling, chipping, removing from the site or prescribed burning. All of it must meet or exceed Colorado State Forest Service standards or other applicable state rules.
- You must hire a third-party service provider. The credit is for work performed by someone other than you. Your own weekend labor does not generate a credit.
- Certification and inspection fees are not creditable. An IBHS application fee or an evaluator visit does not count toward the credit, even though the mitigation work behind it does.
- Grant-funded dollars are not creditable. Covered in detail below — this is the single most common mistake.
- The separate WUI subtraction still exists. Colorado also allows an income tax subtraction for out-of-pocket mitigation on property inside a wildland-urban interface area. The subtraction and the credit are governed by the Department of Revenue's Income Tax Topics: Wildfire Mitigation Measures guidance.
For tax year 2026 the credit remains at $1,000 with the older income test — the Department of Revenue publishes the inflation-adjusted 2026 income figure at year end. The joint-filer fix, however, applies for 2026.
Colorado HB 25-1182: mitigation you can prove has to count
House Bill 25-1182, titled Risk Model Use in Property Insurance Policies, was signed May 28, 2025 and its provisions took effect July 1, 2026. It is not a rebate. It is the law that turns your mitigation work into leverage with your carrier — which, over a long enough horizon, is usually worth more than any single rebate.
The act applies to any property insurer that uses a wildfire risk model, a catastrophe model or a scoring method to assign risk. Those insurers must now:
Account for mitigation — or discount for it
Insurers must ensure that property-specific and community-level mitigation actions are incorporated into their models, or otherwise demonstrably included in underwriting and pricing. If an insurer does not build mitigation into its models, it is required to provide discounts to policyholders who demonstrate actions taken on the property to reduce risk of loss.
Tell you your wildfire risk score
An insurer that provides a mitigation discount, or that uses a wildfire risk score to underwrite, nonrenew, price, differentiate or surcharge, must give you an annual written notice stating the applicable mitigation discounts, your wildfire risk score, and any other wildfire risk classification used.
Publish what savings exist
Insurers must post on their website information about premium savings available to policyholders who undertake property-specific mitigation or who can show community-level mitigation, along with the process for appealing a wildfire risk score.
Let you appeal
The act authorises policyholders and applicants to appeal the score or classification directly to the insurer. Insurers also submit model and scoring data to the Division of Insurance as part of rate filings, and the Commissioner is authorised to adopt rules.
No Colorado regulator sets a discount percentage, and carriers differ sharply in how they treat documented mitigation — some price it directly, others treat it as an underwriting consideration only. The state's own tax-expenditure evaluation cites estimates that mitigation may save a homeowner on the order of a few dollars to a few tens of dollars per year in premium.
That number understates the real benefit. In a market where non-renewal in the wildland-urban interface is a live risk, the durable win is insurability, not premium. A clean, dated, photographed mitigation file is what keeps a carrier writing your policy. Ask your agent specifically what your carrier does — and ask for the score notice you are now entitled to.
How to stack the money without losing any of it
Almost every dollar described on this page can be combined with the others. But the programs have interlocking rules, and doing things in the wrong order is how homeowners forfeit funding they had already qualified for. This is the order that works.
- Get the assessment first — it is usually the gate. The City of Boulder requires a Detailed Home Assessment from Boulder Fire-Rescue before you can apply to WRAP. Lyons requires a Wildfire Partners Individual Home Assessment. Larimer's HIZ MAP requires a completed Home Ignition Zone assessment on file. Douglas County requires a written scope of work. Assessments are free from most fire districts and county programs. Doing the work first and looking for money afterward disqualifies you from most of them.
- Apply and get written pre-approval before any work starts. WRAP issues a signed Rebate Agreement and pre-approval, then gives you 90 days. Douglas County requires two contractor estimates from its approved list plus a site map, and pays the contractor directly after county staff inspect the finished work — you are explicitly told not to pay the contractor in full. Boulder County's rebate requires an application before the claim. Verbal approval is not approval.
- Do the work, and document it as you go. Take before photos of every item you intend to claim. Have the contractor itemise the invoice by line item and dollar amount, separating wildfire work from ordinary landscaping — programs will strike non-qualifying lines and, in the City of Boulder's case, exclude tax on mixed receipts. Take after photos framed the same way as the before photos.
- Claim the local rebate or cost-share. Local money is finite, first-come, and deadline-bound. The state credit is not. Claim the perishable money first.
- Claim the state credit only on what you actually paid. This is the rule that trips people up. You cannot claim the Colorado credit for any portion of a project covered by a grant, a rebate, or a cost-share. You can claim it on the unreimbursed remainder. If Douglas County matches half of a $6,000 project, the $3,000 you paid is your credit basis — which under the 2027 rules would produce a $2,000 credit, refundable.
- Send the same file to your insurer. Under HB 25-1182 your carrier has to account for documented mitigation or discount for it. The invoice, photos and assessment report you assembled for the rebate are exactly what the carrier needs. Ask in writing, and ask for your wildfire risk score at the same time.
A Lyons homeowner replaces the five feet of wood fence attached to the house, clears the first five feet to gravel, and screens the gable vents — a $2,400 project. Boulder County's Wildfire Partners rebate covers $500. The Town of Lyons matches with another $500. That leaves $1,400 out of pocket, which becomes a $1,000 state tax credit for tax year 2026 (the full $1,400 would be creditable in 2027 under the higher ceiling). Net cost to the homeowner: $400 — before whatever the carrier does with the documentation.
County and municipal incentives, Front Range
Below, each county's own programs come first, followed by what individual towns and cities layer on top. Where a municipality has no separate program, we say so plainly rather than padding the list — knowing you are already covered by the county program is more useful than a false lead.
Boulder County
The most generous and most accessible county program in Colorado, funded by a dedicated Wildfire Mitigation Sales Tax that voters approved in November 2022, less than a year after the Marshall Fire.
County-level programs
Wildfire Partners General Rebate
Open to every Boulder County resident who owns or rents a home in the county, unincorporated areas and every municipality including the City of Boulder. Six eligible actions:
- The First Five Feet — replace the first five feet around the home with noncombustible materials
- Fences are Fuses — replace the five feet of fencing attached to the home
- Junk Your Junipers — remove highly flammable juniper shrubs
- Protect Home Base — cover the bottom six inches of siding with noncombustible material
- Vents for Defense — 1/8-inch mesh screens or flame-resistant vents
- Cut the Clutter — declutter under the deck
Apply by 5 p.m. October 8, 2026; work complete and claims submitted by 5 p.m. October 29, 2026. Work and materials must date from June 18, 2024 or later.
Not eligible: weed whacking, tree removal, slash chipping or removal, leaf and needle removal, fire-retardant stain or paint on fences, planting vegetation, or enclosing spaces under decks.
Wildfire Partners rebate →Need-based assistance
For Boulder County residents with limited incomes, Wildfire Partners offers awards that can cover up to the full cost of eligible mitigation, designed to ensure equitable access to defensible space. If you have previously qualified for a government program using formal income criteria, there is a good chance you qualify here.
Ask about it at the same time you ask about the rebate — it is not automatically offered.
Multi-Family Dwelling Rebate
HOAs and property managers of townhomes, apartments, condominiums and HOA neighbourhoods with shared common areas can claim up to $500 per household unit for qualifying Junk Your Junipers work in common areas. The 2026 window ran April 14 to July 24. Watch for the 2027 round if you sit on a board.
Community chipping & assessments
Wildfire Partners runs a free community chipping program — groups of roughly five or more neighbouring households organise a chipping day with a county-approved contractor. The county also provides custom mitigation assessments and certification, educational events, and youth mitigation crews serving vulnerable residents.
Free individual home assessments are available to homeowners in West Boulder County — west of Highways 36 and 93. City of Boulder residents use the city's Detailed Home Assessment instead.
In unincorporated Boulder County, homeowners in Wildfire Zone 1 (West County) have two paths to meet defensible space requirements at permit time: follow the building code, or hold a Wildfire Partners certificate. A Wildfire Partners assessment is also required for short-term and vacation rentals in Wildfire Zone 1. If more than five years have passed since your last assessment, you need a new one.
City and town programs in Boulder County
City of Boulder — Wildfire Resilience Assistance Program (WRAP)
Up to $2,000 per property. The largest municipal rebate on the Front Range, funded by Ballot Issue 2A, the Climate Tax that city voters approved in 2022 with funding allocated through 2040. Eligible to properties inside the City of Boulder's wildland-urban interface — check your address against the city's eligibility map before you plan around it. Businesses are eligible if registered and in good standing; renters benefit when the owner applies.
The process: confirm your address is in the boundary, get a Detailed Home Assessment from Boulder Fire-Rescue, access your DHA report online, select eligible work items and submit for pre-approval, sign the Rebate Agreement, then complete the work within 90 days. Applications close October 1, 2026 or when funds run out, whichever comes first; all projects must be complete and documentation uploaded by December 1, 2026.
Two provisions worth flagging. If your household is at or below 60% of Boulder County Area Median Income, you may receive part of the payment upfront rather than as reimbursement — contact city staff to arrange it. And the city does not share program participation with insurance companies, so you control that disclosure.
Ineligible: equipment purchases, your own labour, work on any structure that is not the primary structure on the lot, routine maintenance such as mowing and leaf cleanup, and HOA common elements. Materials for owner-performed work are reimbursable.
City of Boulder WRAP →Town of Lyons — Wildfire Mitigation Rebate
Up to $500, matching the county. First come, first served while funds last. The town rebate is deliberately built on top of the county program: to receive it you must complete a Wildfire Partners Individual Home Assessment, complete Wildfire Partners-approved mitigation activities for the current year, and fulfil all requirements for the county rebate program with a rebate received or pending. Boulder County verifies the work and shares confirmation with the town, which is why you have to go through the county first.
Lyons is also the most regulatory town in the county. The town began enforcing the state Wildfire Resiliency Code town-wide on July 1, 2026, and the Board of Trustees has been weighing a first-in-Colorado ordinance that would require mitigation on existing homes — clearing combustible materials within five feet, removing debris and flammable vegetation under decks. The rationale is that with roughly 740 residential properties and about ten vacant lots left, a code that applies only to new construction would achieve very little. If you own in Lyons, watch this and mitigate ahead of it rather than behind it.
Town of Lyons wildfire preparedness →Superior, Louisville, Lafayette, Longmont, Erie, Nederland, Jamestown, Ward
No separate municipal rebate identified as of August 2026. Superior and Louisville actively publicise the county program rather than running their own, and the Wildfire Partners General Rebate explicitly covers residents of every municipality in the county — so residents of these towns claim the same $500 as everyone else. Marshall Fire rebuild incentives (the Colorado Energy Office electrification rebate, Xcel's rebuild rebates, DOLA's Disaster Resilience Rebuilding Program) were rebuild-specific and largely wound down; they are not mitigation incentives for standing homes.
Larimer County
No countywide cash rebate. Larimer's money arrives instead as federally funded, geographically targeted programs — which pay far more per property, if your parcel is inside the boundary.
County-level programs
Home Ignition Zone Mitigation Assistance Program (HIZ MAP)
Contractor-implemented defensible space and vegetation management, coordinated by the county — you are not fronting the money and chasing a reimbursement. Eligible parcels lie in Cherokee Meadows, Crystal Lakes, Glacier View and the Poudre Canyon area.
Requirements: a privately owned developed parcel, a completed Home Ignition Zone assessment on file, and a signed right-of-entry form. Owner-occupied, seasonal and renter-occupied properties all qualify. A program specialist finalises the scope before crews arrive, and applying does not guarantee funding.
Vegetation only. HIZ MAP does not fund roof replacement, vents, screens, gutters or other structural home hardening — that is where the state tax credit and your own budget come in.
Larimer County Wildfire Partner Program
Established in 2023 within the Sheriff's Office Emergency Services Division. Provides free Home Ignition Zone Assessments — roughly one-hour, property-specific, based on national best practice — plus a Wildfire Mitigation Vendors for Hire Resource List included with every assessment report, grant funding coordination, and Wildfire Safety Inspections required for certain building permits.
Note the distinction the county draws: a Home Ignition Zone Assessment is voluntary education; a Wildfire Safety Inspection is a permit requirement. The program does not share assessment information with insurers.
Community Mitigation Grant Program
Run by the Office of Emergency Management, now in its fifth year, for community groups, HOAs, neighbourhood associations, local non-profits and charitable foundations — not individual homeowners. Small grassroots groups take priority over larger non-profits.
Funds hazardous fuels reduction, community chipping and slash removal, community firewood banks, mitigation tool libraries, home ignition zone and defensible space work, and preparedness outreach. Sixteen groups were funded in the 2026 cycle; the performance period ends November 2, 2026. Since 2022 the program has put more than $343,000 into 59 completed projects.
If you live on a street where several neighbours want work done, this is usually a better vehicle than each household going it alone.
Protecting the Gateway to the Rockies
A USDA Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant covering the Estes Park area and the Big Thompson Canyon corridor. Planned activities include mitigation treatments establishing or enhancing defensible space on as many as 900 parcels, up to 500 acres of landscape-scale treatment, fuels work along up to seven miles of key roadways, and up to 75 community education events.
Work occurs within the boundaries defined in the Community Wildfire Protection Plans adopted by the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, the Glen Haven/Retreat community and the Loveland Fire and Rescue Authority. A companion $9.6M grant funds the Red Feather Lakes project that HIZ MAP sits inside.
City and town programs in Larimer County
Estes Park
No municipal homeowner rebate. The town's wildfire work runs through Estes Park Power and Communications, which maintains a Wildfire Mitigation Plan and an active vegetation management program across a roughly 300-square-mile, largely forested service area — useful to you because overhead service lines sit inside your home ignition zone. The Estes Valley Community Wildfire Protection Plan is the governing document, and Estes Valley FPD's CWPP boundary is one of the three areas eligible for defensible space treatment under the Gateway to the Rockies grant. Start with an Estes Valley FPD assessment.
Fort Collins
No city rebate. Poudre Fire Authority offers free Home Ignition Zone Assessments — one-hour visits that evaluate wildfire risks to the structure and give you prioritised home hardening and mitigation recommendations. PFA also runs a defensible space course for HOAs and groups of ten or more, which pairs well with a Larimer County Community Mitigation Grant application. Properties in the foothills and canyons west of town — Bellvue, Rist Canyon, Redstone Canyon, Horsetooth, the Poudre corridor — carry the highest exposure in the district.
Loveland
No city rebate. The Loveland Fire and Rescue Authority CWPP area is one of the three boundaries covered by the Gateway to the Rockies grant, which puts Loveland-area foothills parcels in line for grant-funded defensible space work. County-level programs and the state credit apply as elsewhere.
Pinewood Springs, Glen Haven, Red Feather Lakes and canyon communities
These are where Larimer's funding is actually concentrated. Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District is affiliated with the Larimer County Wildfire Partner Program. Red Feather Lakes-area communities are the HIZ MAP footprint. Glen Haven/Retreat sits inside the Gateway to the Rockies boundary. If you own here, the first call is your fire protection district, not the county switchboard.
Jefferson County
Jeffco has the highest concentration of wildland-urban interface housing on the Front Range and, as of August 2026, no countywide homeowner cash rebate. What it has instead is excellent, cheap disposal infrastructure and unusually strong fire district programs — plus a building code that has real teeth.
County-level programs
SLASH — Sustainable Lands and Safer Homes
Run with the Jefferson Conservation District since 2022. Rotating drop-off sites across the county — Tincup Ridge in Golden, Settlers Drive in Morrison, Beaver Ranch Park in Conifer and others — generally open Thursday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the site moving around the county through the season.
Fees are charged by the load: six cubic yards (162 cubic feet) is one load, at roughly $20, credit card only. Any size truck or trailer is welcome, all material is unloaded by hand, and arriving less than 30 minutes before close means you will not get unloaded. Open to residents generally, not only Jeffco residents.
The county has also opened free emergency drop-off days after declared events — it did so at Tincup in January 2026 following December's windstorms. Worth watching after any major wind event.
Jeffco SLASH program →Jefferson County Wildfire Resiliency Code
Not an incentive, but it drives project scope and therefore cost. In unincorporated Jeffco, a complete reroof inside the mapped WUI must comply with the roofing provisions of the county's wildfire resiliency code. Critically, the county has stated that defensible space requirements are not triggered by a reroof alone.
That distinction is worth money: it means a reroof does not force a full-property overhaul, but it does mean the roofing assembly, valleys, gutters and ventilation need to be specified correctly the first time. A Class A assembly installed to code is also creditable mitigation for your insurer.
Fire Resistant Roofing →Jefferson Conservation District
Provides technical assistance to private forest landowners on forest restoration, wildfire mitigation and fuel reduction, and delivers the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in partnership with the NRCS — a federal cost-share route that is frequently overlooked by owners of larger forested parcels. Reachable at 720-661-1738.
State and federal grants that land here
Jeffco neighbourhoods have been successful applicants for the Colorado State Forest Service Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) grant program, which funds community groups, HOAs and neighbourhood associations — not individual landowners. The 2026 round has a $7.04 million pool with applications due 5 p.m. October 8, 2026 and awards on March 31, 2027. There is a cash or in-kind match requirement.
Fire district and municipal programs in Jefferson County
Evergreen — Evergreen Fire/Rescue chipping program
Free chipping for district residents. Clear woody vegetation from around the home, stack it in a slash pile, and the EFR fuels module chips it. Registration is limited to residents of the Evergreen Fire Protection District, opens on a first-come basis, and fills quickly — one request per household. Piles must be stacked by 8 a.m. on the first scheduled chipping day in your zone, and crews work Monday through Thursday.
Conifer, Pine and Aspen Park — Elk Creek and Inter-Canyon FPDs
The Conifer Wildland Division, established jointly by Elk Creek and Conifer fire districts to address high wildfire risk in southern Jeffco, runs three homeowner-facing programs: a Wildfire Prepared home assessment producing a detailed property-specific work plan; a Community Ambassador Program connecting trained volunteer liaisons with their own neighbourhoods; and a community chipping program historically providing free slash removal across both districts.
Be aware the districts are deliberately shifting emphasis from scattered individual chipping toward neighbourhood and landscape-scale projects and roadside evacuation-route treatment. Their current guidance to homeowners is to get a Wildfire Prepared assessment, apply for grants afterward, use the county SLASH program for disposal, and organise a neighbourhood chipping day through your Ambassador.
Golden Gate Canyon and north Jeffco — Golden Gate FPD
Golden Gate Fire Protection District has stood up a Wildland Fire Mitigation Division and recruits community volunteers into mitigation work. The district also completed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan process in late 2025. Districts like this one are the fastest route to a free assessment in the canyon communities.
Golden, Lakewood, Arvada, Morrison, Genesee, Indian Hills
No municipal rebate programs identified as of August 2026. Residents rely on the county SLASH program, their own fire protection district's assessment and chipping services (Indian Hills Fire Rescue, Genesee Fire Rescue, Foothills Fire, West Metro Fire), and the state tax credit. Genesee and Indian Hills sit squarely in mapped WUI; Lakewood and Arvada foothills-edge properties should still check the county wildfire map rather than assuming suburban means safe — the Marshall Fire was a grassland fire in a suburb.
Douglas County
The largest per-property incentive in Colorado. If you own a forested parcel in Douglas County and you are not using the cost-share program, you are leaving five figures on the table.
County-level programs
Wildfire Mitigation Cost-Share Program
A 50% financial match for homeowners, HOAs and communities reducing hazardous conditions and wildfire fuels. Three tiers:
- Up to $25,000 for individual homeowner projects — defensible space, reducing vegetation densities, disrupting fuel continuity in grass and shrub
- Up to $50,000 for community projects
- Up to $7,500 for community chipping or slash pickup
Applications require a detailed scope of work, two contractor estimates from the county's approved contractor list, and a site map. Work must reflect Firewise principles, Colorado State Forest Service standards and accepted science-based practice; fuel breaks must follow the CSFS Guide to Community Fuel Breaks and relevant USFS technical reports.
The 2026 spring window ran April 13 to May 13, with a second application period anticipated in late 2026. The county encourages adjacent neighbours to apply together — contiguous treatment is worth more than isolated parcels, and community chipping proposals require applicants on the same street or adjacent streets to apply as one entity.
Payment mechanics matter here. County staff inspect the finished work. You then pay the contractor your portion only — do not pay in full. Once you supply the final invoice and proof of payment, Douglas County Finance releases the 50% match directly to the contractor. Mitigation required as a condition of the land use process is not eligible.
Douglas County cost-share →GreenWorks slash-mulch & green yard waste site
Free drop-off for branches, leaves, grass clippings and other yard debris from landscaping and wildfire mitigation projects. Douglas County residents only — bring ID or proof of residency. Free wood chips are available to residents as supply allows, with a loader on site to help you load.
The site relocated to 5675 Delva Way, Sedalia; the former Caprice Drive site in Castle Rock is closed. Confirm current days and hours before you load the trailer — they have changed with the move.
GreenWorks slash-mulch →Douglas County's match is the single best argument for understanding the grant-offset rule. On a $10,000 defensible space project, the county pays $5,000 and you pay $5,000. Your creditable basis is $5,000 — which produces the full $2,000 state credit from tax year 2027, refundable. Effective cost of a $10,000 project: $3,000. Sequence it wrong — do the work first, then look for funding — and you get neither.
City and town programs in Douglas County
Castle Rock
The town runs no mitigation rebate. Castle Rock Fire and Rescue states plainly that it does not offer wildfire mitigation services and directs residents to hire a qualified licensed contractor and to contact Douglas County for the grants tied to mitigation. CRFD's wildfire safety guidance is practical and worth following: noncombustible mulch or hard surfaces within five feet, no juniper or high-oil-content plants, lawns and native grasses kept to four inches, shrubs and trees removed from the 0–5 foot zone, roofs and gutters kept clear.
City of Castle Pines
No city rebate, but the most organised municipal wildfire program in the county. Castle Pines partnered with South Metro Fire Rescue to develop a City of Castle Pines Wildfire Mitigation Plan, adopted by City Council as the city's guiding document. The city directs residents to Douglas County's risk reduction programs including the slash-mulch site, and to South Metro Fire Rescue's Preparedness Division for property-level guidance (720-989-2271). The city also won a Colorado State Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation Outreach grant to fund resident engagement workshops and videos.
Town of Larkspur and Perry Park
Free property mitigation reviews. Larkspur Fire Protection District personnel will conduct a free, no-obligation review of your property and make specific suggestions for making the home safer in a wildfire, covering both the Town of Larkspur and Perry Park. This is the assessment that should precede a Douglas County cost-share application — and Larkspur/Perry Park is exactly the kind of forested, Pike National Forest-adjacent terrain the county has prioritised, including the Sandstone Ranch fuel break work.
Parker, Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch, Franktown, Sedalia, Louviers
No separate municipal rebates identified. All are covered by the county cost-share program and the GreenWorks slash-mulch site, and served for risk reduction by South Metro Fire Rescue or their local district. Lone Tree and Castle Pines both participate in the Douglas County Wildfire Action Collaborative alongside Castle Rock Fire and Rescue, CSFS, CORE Electric, Parker Water and Sanitation, South Metro, West Metro and the Sheriff's Office — a useful signal of which agencies actually coordinate mitigation funding in this county.
Denver County
The City and County of Denver runs no homeowner mitigation rebate or cost-share program. That does not mean Denver homeowners have nothing to claim — and for a meaningful number of people reading this, it does not mean what they think it means.
What Denver homeowners can still access
Check your county of record first
A large share of properties with Denver mailing addresses are legally in Jefferson, Douglas, Arapahoe or Adams County. Eligibility for every program on this page is determined by the parcel's county and municipality, not by the postal address. If your mail says Denver but your property taxes are paid to Jefferson County, you have access to SLASH and your fire district's programs; if it's Douglas, you have access to a $25,000 cost-share. Pull up your parcel on the county assessor's site before concluding you're on your own.
The state programs are not county-restricted
The wildfire mitigation income tax credit applies to individual landowners with private land anywhere in Colorado, subject to the income cap and the requirement that a third-party provider performs work meeting Colorado State Forest Service standards. The separate WUI income tax subtraction applies to out-of-pocket mitigation on property in a mapped wildland-urban interface area — check the CSFS Colorado Wildfire Risk Viewer for your parcel before assuming Denver disqualifies you.
Check Your Wildfire Risk →HB 25-1182 covers every Colorado policyholder
The insurance provisions are statewide and carrier-facing, not geographic. If your insurer uses a wildfire risk model to price or underwrite your Denver policy — and many now do, including for grassland exposure — you are entitled to the annual score notice, the published savings information, the appeal process, and either model credit for your mitigation or a discount.
Denver Fire Department preparedness resources
Denver Fire publishes wildfire risk, preparedness and mitigation guidance for residents. It is education rather than funding, but it is the right starting point for understanding grassland and open-space exposure along the city's western and southern edges — and the Marshall Fire established beyond argument that a suburban Front Range grass fire can destroy a thousand homes.
Your funding stack is two layers deep, not three: the state tax credit plus whatever your carrier does under HB 25-1182. That still covers up to $1,000 of a project this year and up to $2,000 refundable from 2027. For most Denver properties the highest-value work is also the cheapest — clearing the first five feet to noncombustible material, screening vents to 1/8-inch mesh, and removing wood fencing where it attaches to the house. All three are creditable.
2026 dates to work backwards from
Most of these programs close in the autumn, and several close on funds exhaustion rather than on a date. Contractor availability in September is the real constraint — if you are reading this in late summer, book the assessment now and the work second.
| Date | Program | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | City of Boulder WRAP | Last day to apply for pre-approval — or earlier, if funds are exhausted |
| Oct 8, 2026 | Boulder County Wildfire Partners rebate | Applications close, 5 p.m. |
| Oct 8, 2026 | CSFS FRWRM grant (community groups, HOAs) | Applications close, 5 p.m.; awards March 31, 2027 |
| Oct 29, 2026 | Boulder County Wildfire Partners rebate | All work complete and claims submitted, 5 p.m. |
| Nov 2, 2026 | Larimer County Community Mitigation Grant | End of performance period for 2026 projects (final reports Nov 1) |
| Late 2026 | Douglas County Cost-Share | Second application period anticipated |
| Dec 1, 2026 | City of Boulder WRAP | All projects complete and documentation uploaded |
| Jan 1, 2027 | State tax credit | $2,000 ceiling, $300,000 AGI cap, refundability and beetle-kill eligibility all begin |
| Apr 2027 | Colorado income tax return | Claim tax year 2026 mitigation credit with receipts attached |
The file that satisfies all three layers
Rebate administrators, the Department of Revenue and your insurance carrier all want the same evidence in slightly different formats. Build one file and you never assemble it twice. This is what belongs in it.
The assessment report
Your Detailed Home Assessment, Wildfire Partners assessment, Home Ignition Zone assessment or fire district report — dated, with the recommendations that justified the work. This is what turns a landscaping invoice into documented wildfire mitigation.
An itemised paid invoice
Must show your name, the property address, the contractor or vendor name and contact details including licence number where applicable, the date, a line-item description of work completed with dollar amounts, and the total paid. Wildfire work separated from general landscaping — mixed receipts get partially disallowed.
Before and after photographs
Framed the same way, for every item claimed. Programs cross-reference photos against invoice line items. Photograph all four elevations, the 0–5 foot zone, vents, deck underside, fence attachment points and any propane tank or outbuilding.
Your approval paperwork
Signed rebate agreement, pre-approval notice, right-of-entry form, or approved scope of work — whichever your program issued. Keep the correspondence too; approvals have expiry windows and you may need to prove you finished inside yours.
Proof of what a grant covered
Because you can only claim the state credit on the unreimbursed portion, keep the rebate award letter or cost-share settlement showing exactly what was paid on your behalf. Your tax preparer needs the arithmetic, not just the invoice.
Materials receipts for owner-performed work
Relevant to programs like WRAP that reimburse materials but not your labour or equipment. Not creditable for the state credit, which requires a third-party provider — so track these separately rather than mixing them into the tax file.
This is the part of the job we handle as a matter of course. Every Blaze Blocker project ships with an itemised scope, photographic documentation of each completed item, and a completion record written to be handed straight to a rebate administrator, a tax preparer or an insurance agent. See what we do, or read our guide to IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home certification in Colorado if you want third-party verification on top of it.
Sources
- HB 26-1289, Modification of Certain Tax Expenditures — Colorado General Assembly (signed June 3, 2026; final act text, Section 9 amends CRS 39-22-543)
- HB 25-1182, Risk Model Use in Property Insurance Policies — Colorado General Assembly (signed May 28, 2025; effective July 1, 2026)
- Wildfire Mitigation Measures Tax Credit evaluation — Colorado Office of the State Auditor, 2026
- Wildfire Partners General Rebate Program and Boulder County rebate announcement
- City of Boulder Wildfire Resilience Assistance Program
- Town of Lyons Wildfire Preparedness
- Larimer County Wildfire Partner Program and Community Mitigation Grant Program
- Jefferson County SLASH — Sustainable Lands and Safer Homes
- Douglas County Wildfire Mitigation Cost-Share Program and GreenWorks slash-mulch site
- Colorado State Forest Service grants and funding assistance
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Blaze Blocker is not a tax preparer, an insurance agent, or a program administrator. Confirm eligibility and current terms with the administering agency, and confirm tax treatment with a qualified preparer, before committing to a project.
Wildfire mitigation cost and incentive FAQs
Straight answers on what the credit is worth, what stacks with what, and where the rules bite.
How much is the Colorado wildfire mitigation tax credit in 2026?
For tax year 2026, the credit equals your out-of-pocket wildfire mitigation costs up to $1,000, subject to an income cap indexed from $120,000 of federal taxable income in 2023 — the Department of Revenue publishes the 2026 figure at year end. HB 26-1289 removed the old provision capping joint filers at $625, so a married couple filing jointly can now claim the same amount as a single filer.
From tax year 2027 through tax year 2030, the maximum rises to $2,000, the income test becomes adjusted gross income at or below $300,000 (indexed), beetle-kill infestation mitigation becomes eligible, and the credit becomes refundable — meaning you receive the excess even if it exceeds your tax liability.
Can I claim the state tax credit on work a rebate already paid for?
No. You cannot claim the credit for any portion of a project covered by a grant, a rebate, or a cost-sharing arrangement where expenses are split among property owners. You can claim it on the portion you paid yourself.
Worked through: a $6,000 Douglas County project with a 50% county match leaves you paying $3,000, and that $3,000 is your creditable basis. Keep the award documentation so your preparer can show the arithmetic.
Does HB 25-1182 guarantee me an insurance discount?
Not a specific percentage, no. Since July 1, 2026, an insurer using a wildfire risk model, catastrophe model or scoring method must either incorporate property-specific and community-level mitigation into that model, or provide discounts to policyholders who demonstrate mitigation. It must also give you an annual written notice with your wildfire risk score and available mitigation discounts, publish premium savings information and its appeal process on its website, and let you appeal the score directly.
No Colorado regulator sets the discount amount, and carriers vary widely. In a market with rising non-renewals in the wildland-urban interface, the more durable benefit is usually continued insurability rather than a lower premium.
Which of these five counties has the largest incentive?
Douglas County has the highest ceiling — a 50% match up to $25,000 for a homeowner project, up to $50,000 for community projects. Boulder County has the broadest access, with a $500 rebate available to every resident countywide including renters, plus need-based assistance that can reach 100% of costs for income-qualified households, plus up to $2,000 more inside the City of Boulder. Larimer County pays the most per property in targeted areas — up to $4,000 of contractor-delivered work under HIZ MAP — but only inside specific boundaries. Jefferson County offers cheap disposal and strong fire district services rather than cash. Denver has no municipal program.
Are there wildfire mitigation rebates in Denver?
The City and County of Denver does not run a homeowner rebate or cost-share program. Denver homeowners can still claim the state wildfire mitigation income tax credit and, where the property sits in a mapped wildland-urban interface area, the separate WUI income tax subtraction. HB 25-1182's insurance provisions apply statewide.
Before concluding you are ineligible for local programs, check your parcel's county of record with the assessor. Many properties with Denver mailing addresses are legally in Jefferson, Douglas, Arapahoe or Adams County — and eligibility follows the parcel, not the postal address.
Do I have to hire a contractor, or can I do the work myself?
It depends which pot of money you're after, and the rules genuinely conflict.
The state tax credit requires that a third-party service provider perform the eligible work — your own labour generates no credit, and certification or inspection fees are not creditable either. The City of Boulder's WRAP takes the opposite approach: it will reimburse materials for owner-performed work, but not your time or any equipment you buy or rent. Douglas County's cost-share requires two estimates from its approved contractor list and pays the contractor directly. Read each program's rules before deciding how to staff the job.
What if my property is held in an LLC or a trust?
HB 26-1289 narrowed the definition of landowner for the state credit to an individual owner of record, and explicitly excludes partnerships, S corporations and similar entities that own land as an entity. The state auditor's evaluation noted that the Department of Revenue's guidance has only ever addressed individual taxpayers, and that other entity types are unlikely to have claimed it in meaningful numbers.
Local rebates generally look at residency and property ownership rather than entity type, so a title held in an LLC may still qualify for a county rebate while failing the state credit test. Talk to your tax preparer before you budget around it.
Do renters get anything?
In Boulder County, yes — the Wildfire Partners General Rebate is explicitly open to residents who own or rent a home in the county, provided the eligible mitigation actions apply to the property and the work is done there. Get the property owner's written permission first.
Elsewhere the answer is generally no for direct payment: the City of Boulder's WRAP notes that renters benefit only when the property owner applies, and Larimer's HIZ MAP funds renter-occupied parcels but works through the owner. The state tax credit belongs to the landowner.
What about HOA common areas and shared property lines?
This is where the biggest money sits and where individual programs specifically exclude you. The City of Boulder's WRAP excludes common elements for individual owners in an HOA. Boulder County's Multi-Family Dwelling Rebate pays up to $500 per household unit for HOA common-area work. Douglas County pays up to $50,000 for community projects and $7,500 for community chipping. Larimer County's Community Mitigation Grant funds neighbourhood groups and HOAs. The CSFS FRWRM grant program is open to homeowner and neighbourhood associations.
If you serve on a board, the community application is almost always worth more than the sum of what your members can claim individually — and contiguous treatment across property lines is worth more in fire behaviour terms too. Note that HB 24-1091 also protects a homeowner's right to install fire-resistant materials, with HOAs limited to setting reasonable appearance guidelines.
Is chipping and slash removal covered?
Not by Boulder County's general rebate — slash chipping and removal, tree removal, weed whacking and leaf or needle removal are all explicitly excluded from that program's six eligible actions. It is covered elsewhere: the state tax credit counts secondary treatment of woody fuels by lopping and scattering, piling, chipping, removing from the site or prescribed burning. Douglas County funds community chipping up to $7,500 and offers free slash-mulch drop-off. Jefferson County's SLASH program charges roughly $20 per load. Evergreen Fire/Rescue and the Conifer Wildland Division run free chipping for district residents. Larimer's Community Mitigation Grant funds slash hauling, chipping and disposal for neighbourhood groups.
How long does this take, realistically?
Budget a season, not a weekend. Free assessments are typically scheduled within a few weeks in spring and slip badly by late summer. Pre-approval takes days to weeks depending on the program. The City of Boulder gives you 90 days to complete work once approved. Contractor availability between August and October is the genuine bottleneck on the Front Range — everyone is trying to finish before the same October deadlines.
If your goal is the 2026 rebate cycle, the assessment needed to happen already. If your goal is the expanded 2027 tax credit and the next Douglas County round, now is the right time to start.
Find Out What You Qualify For
We'll walk your property, map it against every program open in your county, and hand you a prioritised, itemised plan — with the documentation built in from day one.