Farmers and ranchers would be required to notify their local fire departments when they do controlled burns, under a bill that won approval from the House Energy and Environment Committee last week.

House Bill 1132 would apply to anyone attempting a controlled burn on private property and it’s a response to what happened to Yuma County firefighter Captain Darcy Stallings last Oct. 21.

Stallings, 34, was responding to a fire call that turned out to be a controlled burn when he died in a traffic accident in his personal pickup, when he ran into the back of a beet truck.

Governor Jared Polis orde...