WiRē Partner of the Year

In 2022, WiRe Center recognized Dorie Dalton as the Partner of the Year. We are deeply appreciative of, and inspired by Dorie’s dedication to helping communities live with wildfire both within her jurisdiction and beyond. Dorie serves as the Wildland Specialist for Genesee Fire Rescue where she was previously a volunteer firefighter for three years. A former kindergarten teacher, Dorie’s passion for education now extends to all ages as she helps homeowners in Genesee understand wildfire risk to their properties and how they can prepare themselves and their homes for wildfire. Dorie has also helped other WiRē partners learn how to collect rapid assessment data. The WiRē partners Dorie has directly helped include Leadville Fire Department, Colorado State Forest Service, Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative, Estes Valley Fire Protection District, and Estes Valley Watershed Coalition. She has also been an active participant in the WiRē Community of Practice. We are thankful to Genesee Fire Rescue for supporting Dorie’s efforts assisting other partners.

WiRē Center selected Schelly Olson as the inaugural Partner of the Year for 2021.

Schelly recently retired as Assistant Chief with Grand Fire Protection District. She also served as the fire district’s Community Risk Reduction Coordinator and Public Information Officer. Schelly founded the Grand County Wildfire Council (bewildfireready.org) in 2013, and currently serves as the council’s Executive Director. Schelly has been working for over a decade with Grand County residents to help them live with the threat of wildfire. Her commitment to service isn’t limited to Grand County. Schelly has served on the Colorado State Fire Chiefs’ Association – Wildland Section, Fire Adapted Colorado, and NFPA’s Wildland and Rural Fire Protection Committee. As if that wasn’t enough, she also travels the West supporting complex incident management teams as a Public Information Officer.

In 2020, Schelly’s home was among the 366 homes destroyed by the East Troublesome Fire. Despite this tragedy, Schelly exemplified resilience and maintains her resolve to advocate for safer, more fire adapted communities – possibly with even more tenacity than before the fire. When asked about fire mitigation efforts in the home ignition zone during a recent interview, Schelly said “You can’t control where the embers from the wildfire will land, but you can control what will happen when they do land.” Schelly’s resilience and commitment as a practitioner demonstrate that although we can’t prevent all negative outcomes, we can continue to inform conversations and decisions about wildfire adaptation.

WiRē Center extends its deepest gratitude for all that Schelly has done and continues to do.