Colorado's New Wildfire Code and Your Deck: What Colorado Springs Homeowners Need to Know
If you're planning a deck, patio cover, or window replacement anywhere around Colorado Springs, there's a building code change from this year that most homeowners haven't heard about yet — and for a lot of properties along the Front Range, it changes what your project is allowed to be built out of.
What Changed
Colorado adopted its first statewide wildfire building code — the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (CWRC) — in July 2025. Local jurisdictions were required to adopt it by April 1, 2026, with enforcement beginning July 1, 2026.
Before this, wildfire construction requirements varied county by county. Now there's a statewide minimum that local jurisdictions have to adopt and enforce — though they're still free to interpret it and to go stricter than the state floor.
Two things worth knowing right away:
- It applies to new construction and significant exterior work in mapped Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas.
- It is not retroactive. Your existing deck is fine. Your next one may be a different story.
What Is the WUI, and Am I In One?
The Wildland-Urban Interface is where homes meet undeveloped land and vegetation. Much of northern and western Colorado Springs falls inside mapped wildfire zones — along with Black Forest, Monument, Peregrine, Flying Horse, Broadmoor Bluffs, and the foothills west of I-25.
The state publishes a CWRC map that classifies areas by fire intensity, and that classification determines how hard your structure has to be built. Your address either falls in a mapped zone or it doesn't — and if it does, the requirements aren't optional.
You can review statewide guidance from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control here: dfpc.colorado.gov/section/wildland-urban-interface
For your specific property, confirm your designation with the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department or El Paso County. Locally, Black Forest Fire Rescue adopted the CWRC in full in December 2025, so Black Forest homeowners are firmly in scope.
Class 1 vs. Class 2 vs. Class A, B, and C
This is where homeowners — and honestly, some contractors — get tripped up, because there are two different sets of "classes" and they mean completely different things.
Class 1 and Class 2 describe your property's fire intensity zone and the level of structure hardening required:
- Class 1 — the stricter tier, for higher fire intensity areas. Expect requirements for noncombustible or ignition-resistant framing and decking, plus attention to what's stored or growing underneath the deck.
- Class 2 — where most Front Range properties land. Materials still have to perform, but you have more options, including fire-retardant-treated wood in many cases.
Class A, B, and C describe a material's flame-spread rating, tested under ASTM E84. Class A is the most fire-resistant.
So the sequence is simple: look up your zone first, then pick materials that meet it. In a Class 2 area, deck boards generally need a Class B flame-spread rating or better. Class A performs better still, and it's what we default to. Your local code official has final authority on both.
What This Means for Your Deck
In mapped WUI areas, local building departments are focused on:
- Ignition-resistant decking materials with a verified rating
- Non-combustible or steel framing systems
- Fire-resistant railing systems
- Ember-resistant vents
- Defensible space around the structure
Decks are a primary ignition pathway in wildfires. Embers collect and smolder between deck boards, and combustible material at ground level can ignite the structure from underneath. That's the reasoning behind most of these requirements.
Decking Materials: Check the Collection, Not Just the Brand
This is the detail that catches people. "Composite decking" is not a fire rating — and within a single manufacturer, different product lines perform very differently. Not every collection carries a fire rating at all.
At Bigfoot Decks & Landscapes we build in TimberTech. Their Advanced PVC lines from the Vintage and Landmark collections meet WUI compliance and carry a Class A Flame Spread Rating plus an Ignition Resistant designation — which is why those are what we spec for homeowners in mapped zones.
One thing worth planning for: buy your fascia, risers, and trim from the same collection as your deck boards. Mixing product lines means different fade rates under our high-altitude UV, and fire ratings and fade coverage are written per collection.
Why Steel Framing Makes Sense Here
Building steel-frame decks in Colorado Springs is one of our specialties, and wildfire code is a big part of why.
Steel framing removes combustible material from beneath the deck surface. It doesn't ignite the way pressure-treated lumber does, and it doesn't warp, split, or deteriorate through Colorado's freeze-thaw cycles. Paired with ignition-resistant decking and a steel railing system, it creates a deck that's built for both the fire code and the climate.