Wildfires are the number one natural hazard in Douglas County. Under Colorado Revised Statute 30-10-513 the Sheriff is responsible for coordination of fire suppression efforts in the case of prairie, forest, or wildland fires or wildfires occurring in the unincorporated area of the county outside the boundaries of a fire protection district, or those that exceed the capabilities of the fire protection district to control or extinguish.  To that end, the DCSO formed a Wildland Fire Handcrew (WFH) Special Team, supervised by the Office of Emergency Management.  The WFH serves as an initial attack fire suppression resource to assist other county agencies that do not have the resources necessary, or in areas that the Sheriff is the fire warden, or when their presence would greatly increase the ability to suppress wildfires that are threatening life or property.

Wildland Fire Handcrews specialize in remote wildland fires that engines are unable to access. They hike through rugged terrain to arrive at these wildfires and utilize chainsaws, hand-tools, and water backpacks to extinguish them.  The purpose of the WFH is to assist Douglas County fire agencies in responding Hard, Heavy, and Fast to initial attack wildfires.  Members of the WFH are full time employees of DCSO, including commissioned Deputy Sheriffs and civilian employees from all divisions.