With an unseasonably warm winter, one fire department is preparing for any potential fires that may come during the holiday season.It is unusual to be fighting fires in the winter, but we have to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done, said Geoff Green, South Metro Fire engineer.Although warm weather is unusual, its not a concern for South Metro Fire this time of year.It's more of those factors, of the low humidity and the high winds is really what gets the hair on our arms to stand up, said Matthew Assell, South Metro Fire public information officer.Concerns like the Red Flag Warning days we saw last week.Because once those start, they they're very hard to contain, even if we have resources getting on scene right away, said Assell.With 30 stations, South Metro Fire covers 287 square miles and theyve already begun preparations for the warm weather.We've up staffed for the dry weather, Green said.The department has added two additional chiefs in service within their districtSo, if one of those fires were to start, those chiefs would be able to take over that incident and control that while the other chiefs were able to go back into the district and cover any other needs that arose, Assell said.And the department never lets their guard down.We always have those brush resources ready to go and available to fight any fire, whether that's a structure fire or a vegetation fire, Assell said.South Metro Fire public information officer Matthew Assell says its not just the summer season that can see fire threats.In Colorado, we can see those brush fires any time of the year. We've seen them where it will snow in the morning and then brush fire that night. I've seen it where we had a wildfire burning in Cherry Creek State Park while snow was falling from the sky, Assell said.And Assell has one message for all Coloradans.Never let your guard down, and the fact that it's truly that year-round fire season here and that you always need to be on the lookout for that, Assell said. ...read more read less