Mountain resorts are a special case for wildfire risk. Here lies millions of dollars of investment – ski lifts, sightseeing gondolas, lodges, utility systems–often upslope and downwind from abundance ignition sources on valley bottoms. The resorts attract thousands of people, many of them seeking a slightly cooler place on a hot summer windy day. These visitors often drive up a single access road into the resort, and cluster on ridges that will burn hot. For communities the resorts provide year-round employment– with winter work often very important to mountain valleys most heavily used in the summer. However, the resorts often have four things going for them:
- Wide clearings- for ski runs, parking lots around their bases, and restaurants and lift terminals above treeline.
- Snowmaking and water reservoir systems provide snow cover late into the spring fire season that provide perimeters for burn outs and prescribed burns and later in the summer provide water to protect facilities from intense mid-summer burns (see above images).
- Avalanche forecasters- Mountain resort staff predict and safely bring down avalanches on the mountain slopes in the winter, and this type of expertise in mountain weather and terrain is equally applicable to managing fuels and safely controlling fires in the resort’s proximity.
- Vegetation managers- Mountain resort staff often have relatively large leases where they manage vegetation under specific approved plans for various purposes (e.g. ski runs, access roads, FireSmart infrastructure guidelines etc.
