The Colorado Springs Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service will be partnering in a new effort to mitigate the wildfire risk around Colorado Springs.

The agreement announced Tuesday allows the city’s Fire Department to do mitigation work on Forest Service land near the city limits, using either contracted work or city resources. Fire Department spokesperson Ashley Franco said it was the first partnership of its kind in Colorado.

Cory Ashby, administrator for Colorado Springs Fire Department’s wildfire mitigation program, said fires did not care about city boundaries and jurisdictions when they spread. Nearly a quarter of the city’s population lives in the Wildland Urban Interface, which is bordered by 22 miles of Forest Service land.

“It allows us to reduce the risk in areas we haven’t been able to go and work collaboratively on. This is just the beginning for addressing all of the Wildland Urban Interface that has a nexus of harming the citizenry of Colorado Springs,” Ashby said.

One of the first projects that will take place under the new agreement is mitigation work along Old Stage Road and Gold Camp Road southwest of Colorado Springs beginning in August. Ashby said the roads were prioritized because they had limited access and had little mitigation work done.

The announcement said that residents in the interface can expect to see more work along roadways to remove small and intermediate-sized vegetation. The cost split and amount of vegetation removed in each project will vary based on the area.

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Fire mitigation crews at work to reduce risk in Stratton Open Space and Palmer Park