On Sept. 8, Gov. Jared Polis memorialized his verbal disaster declarations for the Oak Fire that occurred in August and burned 75 acres.
“Pursuant to the authority vested in the Governor of the State of Colorado and, in particular, pursuant to Article IV, Section 2, of the Colorado Constitution and the relevant portions of the Colorado Disaster Emergency Act, C.R.S. § 24-33.5-701, et seq., I, Jared Polis, Governor of the State of Colorado, issue this Executive Order declaring a state of disaster emergency due to the Oak Fire in Archuleta County, enabling State and federal agencies to coordinate fire suppression, response, consequence management, mitigation, and recovery efforts,” the order states.
The order states Polis authorized employing “unarmed members of the Colorado National Guard for the purpose of supporting fire suppression and consequence management efforts as deemed necessary by the Colorado Department of Public Safety for the Oak Fire.”
The order explains the governor “is responsible for meeting the dangers to the State and people presented by disasters.”
It also notes the “Colorado Disaster Emergency Act defines a disaster as ‘the occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural cause or cause of human origin, including but not limited to fire.”
The order also recaps that, on Aug. 10, “the Oak Fire started in Archuleta County near Pagosa Springs and burned multiple structures and caused numerous evacuations on private land in the Wildland Urban Interface, threatening over 5,100 buildings and 2,000 homes. The number of required resources and management level needed for the rapidly evolving Oak Fire exceeded available resources at the local level.”
It continues, “As referenced in Executive Order D 2025 012, on August 10, 2025, at approximately 6:53 PM, I verbally declared a disaster emergency due to the Oak Fire in Archuleta County and activated the State of Colorado Emergency Operations Plan and directed the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to take all necessary and appropriate State actions to assist the affected jurisdictions with their fire suppression, response, consequence management, mitigation, and recovery efforts. At the same time, I verbally authorized employing unarmed members of the Colorado National Guard to respond to the Oak Fire by providing fire suppression and consequence management support.
“On August 11, 2025, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) for the Oak Fire, determining that the fire threatened such destruction that it would constitute a major disaster. The FMAG authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs.”
It notes that, as of Aug. 16, the fire had burned 75 acres and was 100 percent contained.
The order also lists declarations and directives, which include ordering state agencies to “pursue all available federal funding for response and recovery operations” and that $1,367,000 be transferred from the State Emergency Reserve Cash Fund to the Disaster Emergency Fund to “pay for fire suppression, response, consequence management, mitigation, and recovery efforts related to the Oak Fire.”
It also authorized the allocation of that funding to the appropriate government agencies and nonprofit organizations and “execute awards, purchase orders, or other mechanisms to effect the allocation of funds.”
The order is valid for 30 days from Aug. 10 unless extended further, but notes that the funds described “shall remain available for the described purposes” for 72 months from the date of the executive order.
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