The Pinewood Lake Wildfire Action Group (PLWAG) is excited to announce our brand-new Precipitation Page! This new resource features live tracking from a local monitoring station (Station CO-LR-1322) through CoCoRaHS (the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network), giving everyone in our community an easy way to check current month-to-date and year-to-date precipitation totals right here at Pinewood Lake. A Brief History of CoCoRaHS Where did this incredible network

Colorado Parks and Wildlife reminds Coloradans to lock up trash and food sources as bear activity peaks this fall. June 21, 2025 - American Black Bear - Pole Hill community As fall weather settles across Colorado, black bears enter hyperphagia–a natural phase of increased activity and intense eating to prepare their bodies to survive the winter. Bears will be traveling up to 20 hours per day in search of food and chance encounters are likely to increase. Colorado Parks and Wi

New Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Fire Chief Paul Claflin is shown here talking with Pinewood resident Barb Shell. (Reporter-Herald photo) Paul Claflin will start his position of Loveland Fire Rescue Authority's fire chief on Monday, November 2. Here's some background information on Claflin, provided by the LFRA at the September 14 public reception: Paul Claflin currently serves as Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firea

Free food, all materials provided! Join experts from the Larimer County’s Department of Health and Environment on Saturday, November 7th from 11am to 1pm for a free wildfire smoke preparedness workshop, and create your own air filter to take home! Smoke from fires in Colorado and surrounding states can pollute the air inside your home, impacting you and your family's health. During this workshop, you will: learn how to keep wildfire smoke out of your ho

From the Larimer County Natural Resources Department: Held annually on the 4th Saturday in September for more than 30 years, National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is one of the nation's largest single days of service and celebration for public lands. Join us to clean up litter at Carter Lake, Flatiron Reservoir, and Pinewood Reservoir. For details and to register, click here .

9-8-26 Update According to the Loveland Reporter-Herald newspaper, the Larimer County Commissioners voted to reduce the current fire restrictions to Stage 1 through November 3, 2026. The paper states that "Stage 1 restrictions allow for a number of fire uses that have been prohibited for most of the summer, including fires in designated firepits at established campgrounds. Also allowed now are outdoor cooking equipment as well as charcoal grills and backyard firepits." Camp

Why are the bears in our area "different"? This article from the Reporter-Herald explains how the bears in the Estes Park and Estes Valley area -- which the Pinewood area adjoins -- have adapted to living with less natural food and more people. The bears of Rocky Mountain National Park are unlike most in Colorado. Here’s why Presentation by Rachel and Andy Ames looks at how Estes Park-area bears adapt to changing conditions By Jeffrey Bear | jbear@prairiemountainmedia.com PU

🦊 KEEP OUR FOXES WILD & OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SAFE! Please do not intentionally or unintentionally feed the foxes in our area. While it may seem like a kind gesture, feeding wild foxes creates serious risks for both the animals and our community. ⚠️ WHY FEEDING FOXES HARMS THEM Loss of Fear: Foxes quickly learn to associate humans with food, making them lose their natural wariness. Increased Danger: Overconfident foxes will approach people, cars, and homes, drastically increasing

The Larimer County Landfill, 5887 Taft Hill Road, will be closed permanently to public use as of Monday, August 3, 2026. Residents need to use the nearby Central Diversion & Transfer Station at 2388 West Trilby Road. For details, please click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bVulOp8yky3l-i93jXvRReBmXkQ9c5_T/view Posted by Lisa Coalwell, July 31, 2026

Posted by Lisa Coalwell Loveland Fire Rescue Authority Board Meeting Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 1:30 PM On Wednesday, April 29, the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority board members will be discussing the proposed 2027 budget -- which is a $9,900,000 increase over the 2026 budget -- as well as deciding on ways to search for a new fire chief, and how much that search will cost. You can see the 129-page information packet the board members will use at the meeting, as well as the a

On last weeks GMRS Net, neighbor Mike O. provided some great Fire Safety tips. Here is a summary of that conversation. The greatest probability of any of us encountering fire near our homes comes from ignition sources within our homes. Before anything else, make sure your egress pathways and doors are not cluttered or difficult to open—your ability to escape quickly is critical. Have adequate fire extinguishers and fire extinguishing blankets readily available Clean your woo

4-2-26: Posted by Gib and Lisa Coalwell What is a Neighborhood Buddy System for Emergencies? The Buddy System is a way for neighbors to check on each other during an emergency situation. What do Buddies do? During an emergency, neighborhood buddies contact each other to make sure each person is aware of the emergency, and to see if anyone in the group needs help. Contact methods: Phone calls, texts, emails, Pinewood Slack group, Pinewood GMRS radios, physical visit Help that

Properly maintained equipment is the backbone of effective wildfire mitigation. Whether you are clearing brush around your home or helping with a larger community project, knowing how to handle a chainsaw safely and efficiently is a critical skill. As a pre-conference opportunity for the Colorado Wildland Fire Conference , a full-day, hands-on classroom session is coming to Fort Collins this April. This course is designed to take the guesswork out of operation and ensure you

3-25-26 (updated 4-27-26): Posted by Lisa Coalwell The Loveland Fire Rescue Authority has two governing boards: The "Rural" Board The Loveland Rural Fire Protection District Board (LRFPD) handles tax money collected from rural residents for the fire department (the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority). This map shows how large the rural tax base is (pink areas are in the city, all other colored areas are designated as rural): Under an intergovernmental agreement, the Rural board

Full post includes updates on Fire Chief Sendelbach and LFRA Board UPDATED 3-20-26 by Lisa Coalwell Chief Sendelbach and the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority have jointly negotiated a separation agreement. Here is the link to the Reporter-Herald article: https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=30b34240-aaa1-4c7e-93d7-d19197f55a80&v=sdk&appcode=REP439&eguid=67d3e6ab-75e4-4e48-87b0-9bd34dcdad75&pnum=1# If this link does not work and you would lik

Updated 4-15-26 Wildfire mitigation is crucial for our community. Creating and maintaining "defensible space" around structures is the single most effective action we can take to protect our properties. The Loveland Fire Rescue Authority (LFRA) is now providing us with a new way to get slash out of our community. The Community Slash Bin Program When you thin out dense vegetation, remove dead trees, or clear brush from your property, you are left with a large amount of materia

From Rocky Mountain PBS: Homeowners in Colorado face difficult decisions when it comes to insuring their home. With increasing fires and more intensive hail, Rocky Mountain PBS and Colorado Public Radio look into the looming crisis — and what the state government is doing to address it. Click here to watch the 26-minute video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=50g8k7FaLOE&t=48s Here is an AI summary of the video: This video, titled "Undercovered: Colorad

Back on August 26, several neighborhoods voted to be added in the LFRA Inclusion zone, to provide additional financial support, through taxes, to our local fire departments. A condition of that approval was that we would not be subject to taxing until 2026. However, many astute neighbors noticed that their 2025 tax bill were revised to include the assessment for the previous tax year. Below is a statement from the LRFPD ensuring that this error will be corrected: “… the prope

Every Thursday evening at 7:00 PM MST , our community gathers on the airwaves for our GMRS community net . This weekly forum is a vital space for neighbors to test their equipment, practice radio etiquette, and stay informed through local announcements. In our session this evening, we had 11 check-ins . It was great to hear everyone’s voices as we worked through several critical safety updates for our area. 📢 Key Announcements & Exercises 1. 2026 Evacuation Drill We spent t