Chaffee County Fire has several touchpoints when it comes to residential driveways in unincorporated Chaffee County. The authority comes from Chaffee County Ordinance No. 2026-02 which adopts the State of Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code (effective July 1, 2025) and accompanying amendments. 

1. If your driveway does not meet county requirements per the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, then Chaffee County Fire will be referred for involvement. If we determine these issues cannot be addressed at a reasonable cost, then we may issue a driveway variance informing the owner and any interested party that Chaffee County Fire and other emergency services may be delayed or impeded entirely in some circumstances due to the failure of the driveway to meet the county's minimum specifications. 

2. When a residential property is going through the site plan process in unincorporated chaffee county, the County Building Department will often involve Chaffee Fire's Fire Prevention Division to review the proposed driveway for compliance with the Land Use Code and the Wildfire Resiliency Code as modified by the county's adopting ordinance 2026-02. The follwing are the applicable rules: 

• Width/Height: Minimum 14 feet wide and 14 feet unobstructed height. If more than two dwellings are served, then minimum 22 feet wide gravel survace or 18 foot paved driving surface and 2 foot gravel shoulders each side . Planning and zoning will assist you in determining which is required in your situation. 
• Driveway vs. Fire Apparatus Access Road: A driveway may serve a maximum of 4 dwelling units, otherwise the 2021 IFC requirements for a fire apparatus access road apply. 
• Turn radius from driveway onto public way: R-30'. 
• Grade: Maximum 8%. 
• Engineering Criteria: Must bear weight of a 50,000 lb vehicle. 
• Turnouts: Driveways in excess of 200' and at every 200' thereafter shall be provided with turnouts. Turnouts shall be a minimum of 10' in width and shall be a minimum of 30' in length. They do not need to be exactly at the 200' mark, and 400' mark but they have to be reasonably spaced with those as guidelines. 
• Turnarounds: Driveways in excess of 150 feet shall be provided with a turnaround for emergency vehicles. See 2021 IFC Appendix D for the specifications of the turnaround. Note also, if the driveway is structured as a loop that returns to the access road at a different location than the entrance, then the requirement for a turnaround is waived, as is the requirement for secondary access (see below); looped driveways still require turnouts. 
• Secondary Access: Per the land use code section 3.2.2.1(h), a secondary access road is required for parcels being subdivided or developed that are larger than 10 acres. This can be a simple two-track or fire trail. It is intended to allow residents to escape by a route that does not impede the entrance of first responders. This requirement is waived if the driveway is a "loop" see above bullet point. 

3. When a residential property is ready for a C of O inspection, the Wildland and Mitigation Division (not the Fire Prevention Division) will perform an on-site inspection to review the defensible space vegetation mitigation, and will also review the driveway specifications mentioned in point (1) at the top of this page.