DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. On June 2, Douglas County Sheriff's Office lifted fire restrictions in unincorporated parts of the county  drawing a mixed bag of responses from community members.In a post on Facebook, the agency citied recent moisture as a factor in reducing risk. That post announcing the county would be lifting the restrictions elicited a range of responses, with some celebrating the move and others questioning it. WATCH: Denver7's Tyler Melito talks with one concerned resident and gets a behind-the-scenes look at tools ready to fight fires and keep communities safe DougCo lifted fire restrictions. Some residents have questions."Yay! Maybe we'll have real fireworks this year on 4th," one commentor wrote in response to the announcement.Another thanked the sheriff's office for trusting residents. Others weren't so excited.One simply asked: "is this a joke?" Another reminded neighbors to stay vigilant regardless of restrictions. Lisa Stanley, who lives in the unincorporated community Louviers near Sedalia, is one community member who said she was not happy when she heard the news."In my opinion? No, I would never lift a wildfire restriction in the state of Colorado, in the middle of summer, ever," Stanley told Denver7's Douglas County Reporter Tyler Melito.Denver7's Melito took those concerns to county officials, who said they're keeping safety top of mind."This has nothing to do with the 4th of July celebrations, but has everything to do with the recent rainfall," a sheriff's office spokesperson wrote. "We understand that any decision we make will have some cheering and others disagree, we always make our choices based on community safety."The spokesperson said fire danger is monitored daily and can shift based on a range of factors."The sheriff speaks with OEM and other experts to make informed decisions based on the information. Due to recent rain fall, the fire restrictions were lifted, however, the fire restrictions can still be changed," the spokesperson wrote. "We encourage all residents to use good judgment towards fire regardless of level of restrictions."Stanley shared she continues to take precautions on her own property to reduce fire risk."We even have a fire pit on our property," Stanley said. "We haven't lit this in almost six years because of that reason."Her opposition to lifting restrictions stems, in part, from the fire she and her neighborhood experienced in July of last year, which prompted evacuations.The Sheriff's Office said in a post on X after the investigation into the fire was complete that the brush fire had been ignited by a passing train.Stanley recalled how quickly the situation escalated. What started as an ordinary day turned urgent within minutes.When she first heard about the fire, she said she continued with her day, expecting it would be knocked down before it got close."Next thing I knew, within 5-10 minutes, I was out here working in the yard," Stanley said. "Douglas County Sheriff came by and said, 'You have about 15 minutes to evacuate, the fire is spreading exceedingly fast.'"The memory of leaving her home has stayed with her. So has the gratitude for the response from the county and surrounding agencies."Thank God for the all of the Douglas County Sheriff fire guys that fly the helicopter, they were dropping water all day long that day, one right after the other, and they saved our town," Stanley said.Sheriff's Office officials tell Melito the key to that rapid response is the county's Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates major incidents across the region."This room is all about supporting major incidents out in the field. There's a lot of consequence management that goes on and cascading impacts," said Office Emergency Management Director Mike Alexander.The center draws on a wide range of tools to maintain situational awareness during emergencies."We take advantage of every tool that exists, every tool at our disposal to bring in situational awareness," Alexander said.Sheriff Darren Weekly said the technology available to responders has evolved significantly over the years."You used to have to go out into the field and you'd come back here to let them know exactly what's going on," Weekly said.The county is also adding new tools, including wildfire modeling software that factors in wind speed, wind direction, humidity, fuel type, moisture levels, and topography to help responders make real-time and advance planning decisions."We model the wildfire starting in this area, you're able to put the input of the wind speeds, the direction of the wind, humidity levels, type of fuels, moisture, and then it takes into account the topography," DougCo OEM Deputy Director Brandon Lenderink said. "Then, as you run that model, it's giving you a time just based on all those conditions that you gave it. That way, we can make those decisions, game day decisions, and an advanced planning of how long will it take to impact this community,"The county has taken several other steps for wildfire mitigation, and is in the process of the country's first county operated Biochar Facility at the Sedalia Landfill which will take woody biomass and convert it into carbon that can be used for a slew of different things. You can read more about the county's wildfire mitigation efforts here.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less