Community preparedness — Colorado
CSU Extension in all 64 counties. CERT teams that trained on the lessons of the Marshall Fire. Ham operators who provide communications in mountain terrain where cell service doesn't reach. Colorado's hazards shift with elevation, and so does the preparedness network. Here's how to find yours.
Enter your ZIP to find volunteer groups, training programs, civic organizations, and mutual aid networks in your area.
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Community calendar
CERT trainings, canning workshops, ham radio exams, garden workdays, first aid classes. Events from local organizations that build community resilience.
64
County extension offices
3
NWS forecast offices
40+
Amateur radio clubs
1
Red Cross region (CO & WY)
Where to plug in
Colorado's hazards shift with elevation. The Front Range faces wildfire, hail, and flash flooding. The mountains deal with avalanche, blizzard, and wildfire. The Eastern Plains get tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and blizzards. The Western Slope faces drought, wildfire, and extreme temperature swings. The organizations below operate at the county level because a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work in a state with 14,000-foot peaks and prairie grassland in the same county.
Colorado State University Extension operates offices in all 64 Colorado counties. Extension programming spans high-altitude gardening, drought-tolerant landscaping, livestock management, wildfire mitigation through defensible space, food preservation, and 4-H youth development. Counties along the Front Range (Larimer, Boulder, Jefferson, El Paso, Denver) run the largest programs, but rural counties from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope deliver programming tailored to local conditions.
The Master Gardener program trains volunteers for Colorado's diverse growing zones — from the short-season mountain gardens at 9,000 feet to the arid high-desert gardens of the Western Slope to the semi-arid Front Range. Extension also runs Firewise/defensible-space workshops in fire-prone communities, drought management education, and food safety programming. Your county extension office is the best starting point for practical skills training in Colorado.
The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) coordinates the state's all-hazards emergency program. DHSEM works through county and municipal emergency management offices and maintains the state emergency operations center in Centennial. Colorado's EM system addresses wildfire, flooding, severe winter storms, hazmat incidents, and dam safety across the state's dramatically varied terrain.
CERT programs are active across Colorado. Denver, Boulder, Jefferson County, El Paso County (Colorado Springs), Larimer County (Fort Collins), and Douglas County all run established programs. After the Marshall Fire devastated Louisville and Superior in December 2021, CERT enrollment surged along the Front Range. Mountain communities like Summit County, Eagle County, and Routt County also run CERT programs tailored to their unique hazards. Training is free.
The American Red Cross Colorado and Wyoming Region serves the state through the Mile High Chapter (Denver metro) and regional chapters across the state. All offer first aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes year-round. Colorado chapters are especially active during wildfire season, when evacuation shelters need to be staffed quickly across mountain communities.
During the Marshall Fire in December 2021, Red Cross volunteers opened emergency shelters within hours as 35,000 people were evacuated from Louisville and Superior. Volunteers provided meals, shelter, and emotional support for families who had lost everything to the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. Volunteer entry points include shelter operations, disaster assessment, feeding, and blood drives.
Colorado has over 40 amateur radio clubs in the ARRL Colorado Section, part of the Rocky Mountain Division. Ham radio is critical in Colorado's mountain terrain, where cell service is spotty or nonexistent in many canyons, valleys, and high-country communities. ARES teams have been activated for wildfire evacuations, flooding, and blizzards, providing communications for emergency management when commercial networks fail.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org, then find an exam session. Clubs in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Boulder, Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Durango host exams regularly. Mountain clubs in Summit County, Eagle County, and Steamboat Springs are especially active in emergency communications.
Three NWS forecast offices serve Colorado: Denver/Boulder (Front Range and northeastern plains), Pueblo (southeastern Colorado, the San Luis Valley, and the Sangre de Cristos), and Grand Junction (Western Slope, including Mesa, Montrose, Delta, and Garfield counties). The Goodland, KS office also covers the far eastern plains. Each runs SKYWARN spotter training.
Colorado's weather hazards include some of the most damaging hailstorms in the country, severe thunderstorms that produce tornadoes on the Eastern Plains, flash flooding in mountain canyons and urban areas, and blizzards that can shut down highways for days. The Front Range corridor from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs sees an outsized share of severe convective weather. Trained spotters are critical. Training is free and runs about 2 hours.
Colorado has over 250 public library locations overseen by the Colorado State Library. Systems like Denver Public Library, Arapahoe Libraries, Jefferson County Public Library, and Pikes Peak Library District (Colorado Springs) run extensive community programming: seed libraries, maker spaces, gardening workshops, and community meeting space. Many Colorado libraries partner with their county extension office for joint programming.
The Colorado Community College System includes 13 colleges across the state. Institutions like Front Range Community College, Red Rocks Community College, Pikes Peak State College, and Pueblo Community College offer affordable continuing education in EMT certification, fire science, welding, electrical work, and other practical trades. Western Colorado Community College and Trinidad State serve rural and mountain communities.
Why this matters
On December 30, 2021, a grass fire ignited near Boulder and was driven by 100+ mph wind gusts into the suburban communities of Louisville and Superior. Within hours, over 1,000 structures were destroyed — homes, businesses, hotels, a shopping center. More than 35,000 people were evacuated. It was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, and it happened in a suburban corridor between Denver and Boulder, not in the mountain forests most Coloradans associate with fire risk.
The evacuation was chaotic but effective, and neighbors made the difference. Residents who recognized the fire danger knocked on doors up and down their streets, loading elderly neighbors into cars and driving them out before the flames arrived. CERT-trained volunteers in Boulder and Jefferson counties assisted with shelter operations at evacuation sites. Ham radio operators provided communications coordination as cell networks were overwhelmed by simultaneous calls. Red Cross opened shelters within hours.
Extension agents in Boulder County provided resources for homeowners navigating the rebuild process. Fire mitigation programs across the Front Range saw a surge in participation as communities that had assumed wildfire was a mountain problem realized the WUI (wildland-urban interface) was in their backyards.
The Marshall Fire taught Colorado that wildfire doesn't respect the city line, and that the first response in any disaster is neighbor-to-neighbor. Every organization on this page trains people for that moment.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your town.
Start with the first 72 hours