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 The Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District (PCFPD) stretches from approximately five miles west of Hwy 287 to the near the top of Cameron Pass and comprises 99 square miles. It follows the scenic Cache la Poudre River for 50 miles as it winds through this rural mountainous area. Much of the areas along the boundaries of Poudre Canyon district do not have fire or EMS service, our district is the first to respond when there are emergencies in these areas. Thus our district responds to incidents on another 56 miles of secondary roads. This adds approximately 176 square miles that we provide EMS and initial attack fire suppression. Hwy 14 runs through the district.
It is not a major truck route, but it still has considerable truck traffic that uses this highway. It is a winding two-way highway. There are numerous miles of type 5 and type 6 roads networking throughout the district. These are dirt roads that are the last to be maintained by county road crews.
There are approximately 500 full time residents living in the district. Another 1,000 to 1,500 people return and live in the district in the summer time. Poudre Canyon is a designated as a National Wild and Scenic Byway and the Forest Service promotes many hiking, mountain biking and horse back riding trails along the Poudre Canyon.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, over 300,000 people visit this area each year. 40,000 of these visitors raft the Poudre River, others hike, horseback ride, bike, fish or otherwise enjoy the recreation this region provides.
The PCFPD is an all volunteer organization with approximately 50 active volunteers. It equips, maintains, staffs and supplies four fire stations that are spread throughout the district and has two ambulances, one in the lower canyon and one in the upper canyon. Its average yearly tax revenue is approximately $45,000. Over 85 percent of the land in the district is owned by the federal government, state government or not-for-profit organizations which do not pay taxes to the fire district. Thus the Poudre Canyon Fire Protect District has a small tax base but provides service to very large geographic area.
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