Lessons from the 2017 Wildfire Season and the Role of Oregon Planners

February 15, 2018

By Will Smith, Wasco County

Just over a month apart, the Eagle Creek Fire in Oregon and the Tubbs fire in California were similar in size but had drastically different outcomes.  In Santa Rosa, a city 55 miles north of San Francisco, the Tubbs fire burned about 36,000 acres. Unfortunately, 22 people died and over 5,000 structures were lost.  The Eagle Creek Fire, which ignited just 45 miles east of downtown Portland reached 50,000 acres and destroyed four buildings.  Cities all along the Columbia River Gorge, from Troutdale to Hood River, were issued evacuation notices but these communities were spared the devastation that struck in California.  Did Oregon’s urban growth boundaries, and the unique zoning of the Scenic Area, save lives and property?

Two unique planning programs have reduced dense development throughout the Columbia River Gorge.  Oregon’s planning program, including landmark protections of farm and forest lands, has greatly reduced the number of dwellings outside of urban areas since 1973.  The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, created by Congress in 1986, begins at the Sandy River just east of Troutdale.  Travelers heading east from Portland on I-84 transition here from commercial and industrial suburbs to the largely undeveloped Gorge where scenic, natural, cultural, and recreational resources receive strong protections across six counties, and residential development is generally confined within or near city limits, in closer proximity to established city services and away from the resource lands to the south.

The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) is defined by the Ready, Set, Go! Fire Safety Program as “areas where homes are built near or among lands prone to wildland fire” (http://www.wildlandfirersg.org).  To a wildfire, homes are just another type of fuel, one that happens to burn much hotter and longer than the woods and grasslands around them, as they represent a much denser collection of flammable materials.  Experiments conducted by the US Forest Service at their fire research stations, such as the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory in Seattle, WA, have demonstrated that the radiant heat of a crown fire with 200-foot flame lengths, 100 feet from a structure is not hot enough to lead that structure to combustion; but a single ember from a flame front a half-mile away landing on dry leaves left in gutters, or a woodpile underneath a deck, can rapidly cause a home to become engulfed in flames. When homes are built too close to each other in the wildland urban interface, once one ignites, all those surrounding it are that much more vulnerable.

These factors of fire behavior are important for homeowners in the WUI to understand.  When a new home is proposed in Wasco County, for example, the applicant must fill out a five page Fire Safety Self Certification checklist that serves to educate the new home builder about the risks of building in the West.  These forms are accompanied by a copy of the County’s Fire Safety Standards. All site plans must demonstrate where the applicant plans on establishing a 50-foot fire break around their home.  These fire breaks are not meant to be a clear cut, but an area that is kept clear of shrubs, tall grasses, and low hanging branches.  It is recommended by fire safety programs such as FireWise and Ready, Set, Go! that vegetation around a home be well managed.  This is known as defensible space and greatly increases a home’s chance of surviving a wildfire.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

If you spent much time in Oregon over the summer of 2017, you likely noticed a hazy day or two from the many fires affecting this region from British Columbia to California.  It was another American summer and another nine million acres of forest and rangeland were affected by wildfires across the country.  If you didn’t see the smoke, you may have seen fire engines or crew buggies heading to or from one of these conflagrations.  Those firefighters were ready to fight fires as they were happening.  Planners need to be ready to fight fires before they even begin.

The tools of the firefighter range from the classic Pulaski, hose, and nozzle, to more intricate and expensive solutions such as dozers, helicopters, or air tankers.  Much like the men and women on the line, planners have an array of tools at their disposal that also range from cheap and easy to expensive and complex.

LOW HANGING FRUIT

The easiest and cheapest way to increase a home’s survivability is through smart planning and regular home maintenance strategies.  Wind carries embers and burning debris ahead of a flame front.  These land on flammable material and create what are known as “spot fires” which gradually grow and join with the main body of the fire.  The most common way that homes burn in fires is from these ember showers.  When constructing or maintaining a home to survive an inevitable wildfire, a homeowner can combine smart building design and site planning strategies for the most effective result.

Homes and other structures in the WUI should be constructed of fire resistant materials.  The roof is especially vulnerable and in some places the local codes forbid building with wooden shake shingle roofs which are notoriously combustible.  Composite asphalt shingle roofs have been shown to be as effective in many cases as a metal roof.  Building codes often include requirements for screens under decks and enclosed soffits to keep these embers from getting inside the house or on dry vegetation that may accumulate underneath a home.  Keep woodpiles away from buildings, regularly clean dry vegetation out of gutters, and clear flammable material away from all structures.

Property owners in the WUI must create and maintain defensible space around their homes and businesses, with a minimum of 30 feet recommended by FireWise USA (http://www.firewise.org).  Other recommendations include:

• There should be no vegetation against the building.
• In the 30 foot to100 foot range all shrubs and low hanging branches should be removed.

These “ladder fuels” increase the chance that a low intensity ground fire could climb up into the canopy and become a much hotter and more dangerous crown fire.

• Lawns should be mowed regularly.
• Plan landscaping with native, fire resistant vegetation.
• Break up the horizontal continuity of fuel by creating and maintaining a mosaic of vegetated areas, with fuel breaks in between.

These strategies will help ensure that when fire gets close to a home, its heat intensity is lower and the risk of direct flame impingement on the building is reduced.

Topography should be considered in home placement.  Fire runs faster uphill as the flames and heat dry vegetation out in front of a wildfire and spotting occurs more rapidly.  Buildings should be located away from steep slopes to avoid these larger flame lengths and provide for 360 degrees of access to a home for responders.

A vital consideration for developers is ensuring that fire departments can easily find and access homes and neighborhoods in the WUI.  Local codes should include requirements for home and business addresses to be clearly visible at the road.  Ensuring safe access and ease of turnarounds helps responders get in and out of a property quickly, for both faster response and firefighter safety.

Finally, ensure that water is available for home protection. Site plans should show where spigots are located, and proposals for larger homes should be required to submit a Fire Safety plan that may include several thousand gallons of water resources onsite dedicated to fire protection.

Local codes should require that buildings in high risk areas adhere to these strategies.   Additionally, larger lot sizes, which ensures adequate space between flammable structures, and tight restrictions on constructing on steep slopes or heavily vegetated areas can increase survivability of development.

Every jurisdiction should have an education strategy to ensure that homeowners understand the risks, and choose to remain in compliance.  Some jurisdictions can afford a rigorous code compliance structure where property owners who fail to properly maintain their land for fire safety through regular maintenance around the home and access ways can be fined.  Rural areas are generally where fire risk is greatest, and first responder availability is lowest.  Well-designed education programs and site plan requirements can ensure that property owners recognize their own responsibility in ensuring that their lands and homes are safe.

Enforcement of these codes is vital, but expensive.  Some jurisdictions have instituted licensing programs. Requirements for renewal and inspection emphasizes that personal fire safety begins as the responsibility of a homeowner.  These compliance programs may include a Wildfire Mitigation Officer who maintains grant programs to assist homeowners with the more expensive and extensive fuel clearing projects.

LONG TERM SOLUTIONS

Planners, especially in increasingly fire impacted Western states, should integrate smart wildfire planning throughout all of their local plans.  The turn of the millennia brought us both the Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan (required by FEMA to be updated every five years as a result of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000) and the Comprehensive Wildfire Protection Plan (born in the Healthy Restoration Act of 2003). Clearly wildfire planning will be addressed in these two plans, but it should also be woven deeply into a jurisdiction’s Comprehensive Plan, as well as watershed plans, multi-species habitat conservation plans, and open space preservation plans.  On the implementation side, fire planning should be present in zoning codes as well as building codes to ensure that both site planning considerations, as well as building design specifications are tweaked to increase a structure’s survivability in the event of a catastrophic wildfire.

Comprehensive Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) are a valuable tool in assisting jurisdictions with prioritizing their fuel reduction plans.  Often, many local, state, and federal agencies work in the same jurisdiction.  The process of consistently updating these plans ensures that they are communicating and that the priorities that the community identifies are addressed adequately.  This collaboration before a fire even begins leads to stronger collaboration during and after such incidents as well.

Fire planning involves a risk or hazard assessment examining various elements such as fuel types, defensible space availability, and historic fire behavior.  These are followed by a vulnerability assessment identifying critical facilities and high concentrations of at-risk structures to focus thinning and management efforts, education methods, and future development patterns. Plans help extract commitments from participating organizations to maintain plan commitments, implement plan action items, and review progress with a regular schedule.  They also include education strategies and public outreach efforts such as neighborhood evacuation plans or drills, tailored to your specific area.  The American Planning Association recommends that the CWPP also include an institutional analysis (identifying capacity), an evacuation or shelter component, coordination with comprehensive planning, goals and policies, and an implementation plan.

CONCLUSION

Ideally, a community will be able to utilize all of these tools, to one degree or another.  However, the level of mitigation and preparation actions that a jurisdiction and its citizens can take is often limited by financial considerations.  Unfortunately, there is no immediate profit in fire prevention, but plenty of profit in development.   This sprawl into the WUI generates tax revenue, but also creates riskier development patterns that may lead to larger costs in the long run unless properly planned for and mitigated.

A 2002 study (Vogt) in California and Florida suggested that seasonal homeowners are more supportive of land use planning to combat wildfire, whereas local residents are more supportive of local economic initiatives, thus separating the voter (locals) from those most supportive of planning efforts (vacationers).  These political and financial considerations may impede a jurisdiction’s ability to develop strong programs and enforce regulations that reduce the number of structures at risk in the WUI.  Tax incentives for fire safe development and property maintenance could help stimulate smarter development in areas known to be at risk for wildfires but will not be able to outweigh the economic incentives associated with growth. A robust public outreach program can go a long way towards educating people about the risks inherent in living in or expanding the WUI.  Planners and policy makers should ensure principles of fire safe planning are integrated throughout their plan documents, and implemented consistently and thoroughly.  It is not a question of if fire will strike in the WUI, but when, and a properly planned community will be better prepared for it when it happens.

Will Smith is the Senior Planner for Wasco County, and was previously a Wildland Firefighter for the US Forest Service. He may be contacted at wills@co.wasco.or.us.