Community Wildfire Protection Plans
Pikes Peak Wildfire Prevention Partners Workshop
Presented by: Marti Campbell
April 12, 2014
Old Story, Same Plot
“Your own safety is
at stake when your
neighbor’s wall is
ablaze.”
Horace (b 68 BC, d 27 BC)
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Why Live in the WUI?
People choose to live in the WUI for many
reasons, including:
• Aesthetic value
• Natural vegetation
• Privacy
• Recreation
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Forest Risk Management
Research has shown that reducing forest
fuels helps lower fire intensity:
• Lower fire intensity results in less environmental
damage to forests, soils, watersheds and wildlife
habitat
• Thinning the forest helps make them more resilient to
insects and diseases
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Privacy
Using vegetation to
maintain privacy may
create a hazard:
•
Access to your home may
limit emergency response
•
Vegetation too close to your
home is a fire risk for you
and fire personnel
•
The forest may be severely
impacted by insects, disease
or fire
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Recreation
• Many people
associate recreation
with campfires
• Up to 90 percent of
wildfires are caused
by human actions
and errors
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Living in the WUI
If you live in the WUI, it is your
responsibility to:
• Reduce the risk of wildfire to your home and property
• Participate in neighborhood safety programs
• Be a good steward of the forest
• Protect the natural resources around your home
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Risk Management
We each manage risk every day:
• Lock doors?
• Use a crosswalk?
• Have smoke detectors?
• Obey traffic laws?
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Risk Management
Does risk management prevent disasters?
• Managing risk reduces the chance of a disaster
occurring, but does not eliminate it.
• Wildfire risk in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) is
well known.
• Management of wildfire risk needs to be a priority for
everyone who lives and recreates there.
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Risk Management
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Community Safety
Be part of the solution:
• Routinely clean gutters and remove flammable
vegetation at least 5 feet from your home/structures
• Reduce fuels at least 30 feet around your home
• Be especially careful with any outdoor fire
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Available Programs
Although each of these programs have different
levels of participation, they all have the same
purpose – reducing wildfire risk in the WUI
Firewise Home
Ready-Set-Go
Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Firewise Community
Fire Adapted Community
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Choosing a Program
• Community Wildfire Protection Plans are
only one of several risk management tools
• If you have not already done so,
choose a wildfire risk reduction program
that fits the needs of your community
• Begin planning for a safer community today!
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Different Programs –
Same Principles
• Locate the values and assets
• Identify the hazards and risks
• Design and accomplish effective projects to
protect values and reduce hazards and risks
Communities can participate in
more than one program.
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Focus and Set Priorities
• Not all community
values are at high risk
High Risk
Landscape
Community
Values
• Not all high fire risk
areas impact the
community
• Not all treatment
methods will be effective
in every location
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Fuel
Mitigation
Projects
Pros and Cons
The community discovers where the
hazards are located and decides how to
reduce the highest risks to protect what
is important to residents
The community works together to
reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfire
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Pros and Cons
The document does not address
specific local hazards or provide clear,
achievable direction for mitigating risks
Because it is not specific and/or does
not have community support, it ends up
sitting on the shelf
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CWPP – A Plan of Action
• Combine hazards and values
to select highest priorities
COMMUNITY WILDFIRE
PROTECTION PLANS
• Form partnerships and get
advice from professionals
• Design projects in small,
achievable “bites”
• Write the plan and get it
approved
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GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Community
A community can be defined as a social group of any
size whose members reside in a specific locality.
Meet with other
community members
to gather opinions
and information
about your locality
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Taking Action
This is not just about your property – get an
overview of your neighborhood!
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Community Risk
• Heavy continuous
vegetation
• Accumulation of dead
or down fuels
• Steep slopes
• Vegetation crowding
road shoulder
• Switch back, narrow
roads, small bridges
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Taking Action
Why should the community take action?
•
Landscape-scale mitigation more effectively reduces fire
risk and intensity, helps protect watersheds and other
natural resources, and improves forest health and
wildlife habitat
•
Working together increases the safety of all residents
and builds a stronger sense of community
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Partnerships
“Many hands make light work.”
John Heywood
•
•
•
•
•
Neighbors
Fire Departments
Professional Foresters
Insurance Companies
Local Governments
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Implementation
Implementation: to carry out; put into action; perform
• Work with interested
neighbors
• Demonstrate
mitigation results
• Apply for funding
assistance if needed for
future projects
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Use the Plan
More than 210 CWPPs
have been approved in
Colorado; 42 of them
are in this
three-county area.
Is your community
covered?
http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/CommunityWildfireProtectionPlans.html
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Demonstration Projects
• Roadway improvements – clear along the road
shoulder to improve emergency accessibility
• Common areas (parks, playgrounds) – mitigate
to enhance the clean appearance and create a
fuelbreak
• Schools, commercial buildings – protect the local
economy by using Firewise fuels reduction
techniques for all to see
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Common Area Hazards
Reduce the fuels – reduce the risks
Before
PPWPP Project – D. Strohm
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After
PPWPP Project – D.Strohm
Remove Continuous Fuels
Improve the view – and reduce risks
Before
PPWPP Project
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After
PPWPP Project
Thin, Prune, Clean Up
Black Forest School Section 16 Hiking Trail
PPWPP Project
Before – D. Root
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During – D. Root
Mitigation Works!
Black Forest School Section 16 Hiking Trail
Final Project Appearance 2008
After Black Forest Fire 2013
PPWPP Project
D. Root
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D. Root
Keep Moving
Make sure the time and work invested in plan
development is not wasted:
• Use and update the information in your CWPP
and assessment to stay on track
• Recognize that completed projects will require
maintenance
• Move projects up the list as others are
completed
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Funding Opportunities
CSFS Natural Resources Grants and Assistance Database
http://nrdb.csfs.colostate.edu/
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Your Mission
• Develop a successful, ongoing fuels reduction
implementation program
• Take action to protect community values in
area of high fire hazards with effective
mitigation treatments
• Lead by example, encourage participation
• Take time to tell new residents what you are
doing and why it is important for them to join
in the effort
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Other Resources
Your Colorado State Forest Service District Forester:
• Dave Root, Woodland Park, 719-687-2921
(Park and Teller counties)
• Kristin Garrison, Franktown, 303-660-9625
(Douglas County)
Websites:
www.csfs.colostate.edu
www.firewise.org
www.fireadapted.org
www.ppwpp.org
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Thank you!