The Board had our first meeting of 2022 and have decided that our big focus for this year will be fire safety and prevention for CME. As you know, we are in severe drought and that makes for a very dangerous fire season, which is now year-round. With the recent devastating fire in Boulder County, now is the time we all need to start focusing on making the whole subdevelopment safer. Our first priority is to get our Wildfire Protection Plan updated. Mark Harter, a member of the fire committee, has been very busy with the update. He is working with the forester in the area on updating the needed information and documentation. He has also been in contact with the Florissant Fossil Beds and will be contacting Mueller State Park regarding mitigation and possible egress through their properties from CME in the event of a fire. If you are interested in being an active member of this committee, please contact us through CMEPOA.com with your contact information, including email. Our second goal is to urge all property owners, whether you live here or not, to mitigate your property. There are many properties that appear to be a fire waiting to happen. Tall grass, deadfall, and trees with low hanging branches are extremely dangerous. They all allow flames to climb into the canopy of the trees causing the fire to spread very quickly and long distances. Grass should be mowed to 4 inches or less. Trees should be pruned of branches to a height of 6-10 feet from the ground or a third of the total height of the tree, whichever is less. Trees should be thinned so there is approximately 10 feet of space between crowns. All deadfall, and standing dead trees should be cut and removed from the property. All of these things will help in making our community a little safer in the case of a wildfire. Next, we are requesting that all homeowners within CME complete a Home Ignition Zone Form (HIZ) found on this website as an online form, or printable form. This form helps the fire department identify which properties within the development are defensible and which ones may need more mitigation in becoming defensible. There are brochures available at the main Florissant Fire station on Rte. 24 to help you understand how to make your home defensible. Lastly, we are asking homeowners for their help in getting reflective address signs for their home. The address sign should be posted near the end of your driveway so that they can be read by a vehicle while driving down the road. After dark, addresses on homes, or addresses that are not reflective, could cause a delay for first responders in finding your home. That delay could mean the difference between life and death. If you need a reflective address sign, you can purchase them through the Florissant Fire Department. They can be ordered from their website—florissantfire.com. Just click on More in the right corner and address signs will appear in the drop down. Cost is $15 for single sided signs and $20 for double sided. With everyone’s help, we can make CME safer for all property owners.