Proceedings of the California's 2001 Wildfire
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RECOMMENDED CITATION FORMAT Blonksi, K.S., M.E. Morales, and T.J. Morales. 2002. Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: Ten Years After the East Bay Hills Fire; October 10-12, 2001; Oakland California. Technical Report 35.01.462. Richmond CA: University of California Forest Products Laboratory. Key words: East Bay Hill’s fire, fire modeling, fire analysis, community planning/permitting, fire behavior, vegetation management, fuels management, Hills Emergency Forum, incident perspectives, homeowners’ hazards, insurance Published by: University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources Forest Products Laboratory 1301 South 46th Street, Richmond, CA 94804 www.ucfpl.ucop.edu Edited by: Tony Morales and Maria Morales Safe Solutions Group P.O. 2463 Berkeley CA, 94702 510-486-1056 [email protected] Special thanks to: Miriam Aroner for comments & Ariel Power for technical suggestions. Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire SPECIAL RECOGNITION GOES TO OUR SUPPORTERS FOR THEIR DONATION OF TIME, MONEY AND SERVICES Sponsors: Bureau of Land Management California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection California Fire Alliance Diablo Fire Safe Council East Bay Regional Park District Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IX (FEMA) Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Hills Emergency Forum Insurance Services Offices Inc. (ISO) Jack London Square Merritt College Environmental Science Program North Tree Fire International Port of Oakland Safeco Insurance State Farm Insurance Office of the State Fire Marshall Statewide FireSafe Council UC Davis Extension UC Forest Products Laboratory USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management R-5 Co-Sponsors: Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board, Allstate Insurance Company, Association for Fire Ecology (AFE), Berkeley Fire Department, California Department of Insurance, Contra Costa County Fire Chiefs Association, Contra Costa County Master Gardeners, El Cerrito Fire Department, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), ESPM – UC Berkeley, Fire and Emergency Television Network (FETN), FireForce One, FireWise Communities, FireWise National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Program, Gage-Babcock & Associates, International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Oakland Fire Department, Pacific Gas and Electric, Ross Project – National Wildfire Coordinating Group, Safe Solutions, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Space Imaging, UC Berkeley, Wildland Fire Research Group, UC Cooperative Extension, UC Davis Center for Urban Forest Research, UC Extension i Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire SPECIAL RECOGNITION GOES TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS LISTED BELOW WHO DONATED THEIR TIME AND EFFORT TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM Christopher Adams John Elliff Program Manager Battalion Chief Governor’s Office of Diablo District, CDF Emergency Services Sunshine Fire Station Disaster Assistance Division John Ferreira Dennis Babson Operations, CDF Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Hazard Mitigation Section Randy Fortner DAPS, Governor's Office of Emergency Brian Barrette Services Society of American Foresters Hazard Mitigation Northern California Section Melissa Frago Gilbert Bendix UC Forest Product Laboratory and Society of Fire Protection Engineers Office of the State Fire Marshall Bethallyn Black Rogers Robin Freeman Contra Costa Master Gardners Merritt College Environmental Science Program Ken Blonski UC Forest Products Laboratory Reginald Garcia Chief, Berkeley Fire Department Barry Callenberger Chief, Prescribed Fire & Leroy Griffin Fuels Management Fire Marshal North Tree Fire International Oakland Fire Department Bill Capps Ruth Grimes El Cerrito Fire Department Senior Planner Berkeley Fire Department Pat Cooney Governor’s Office of Elizabeth Hill Emergency Services, Fire & Rescue East Bay Municipal Utility District Sandra Cooper Scott Keller Conference Coordinator Personal Business Manager UC Davis Extension Safeco Insurance Jerry Davies Frank Kemper Director of Communications Division Chief Personal Insurance Federation CDF, Coast-Cascade Region Mike Dougherty Don K. Kendall Governor’s Office of Emergency Captain Pre-Fire Engineering Services CDF Santa Clara Unit ii Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire Special Recognition to Individuals (continued) Jerry Kent Stephen Quarles Assistant General Manager Wood Durability Advisor East Bay Regional Park District UC Forest Products Laboratory Pat Kidder Valerie Quigley California Fire Alliance Emergency Preparedness Manager Bureau of Land Management Lawrence Berkeley Labs Chuck Kovely Carol Rice Master Gardeners Association-UCCE International Association of Wildland Fire Susanna Laaksonen-Craig Assistant Director Keith Richter UC Forest Product Laboratory Fire Chief Contra Costa County FPD Jeff Loux UC Davis Extension Jill Rushing Land Use and Natural Resources Statewide FireSafe Council Stephanie Macadaan John Shelly Regional Manager Forest Products Advisor - Biomass Insurance Information Network of California Cooperative Extension, UC Berkeley UC Forest Products Laboratory David Mandel Associate Planner, UC Berkeley Gerald Simon Chief, Oakland Fire Department Mike Martin Battalion Chief, CDF Bill Sirola Pleasanton Public Affairs, State Farm Insurance Tad Mason Rick Standiford TSS Consultants Associate Dean Forestry College of Natural Resources Cheryl Miller Cooperative Extension, UC Berkeley Hills Emergency Forum Scott Stephens Tadashi Moody Assistant Professor of Fire Sciences UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Wildland Fire Research Bruce Turbeville Maria Morales FireSafe Council, and CDF Fire Ecologist, Safe Solutions Jerita Wallace Tony Morales Department of Insurance Safe Solutions Steven Woodill David Orth CDF Assistant Fire Chief Berkeley Fire Department Bryan Zolnar Statewide FireSafe Council iii Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire Members of the Conference Steering Committee iv Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire TABLE OF CONTENTS Opening Comments ...………………………………………………………………………………………5 Ken Blonski, UC Forest Products Laboratory Homeowner: Perspectives: Housewarmings ………………………………………………………………7 Barbara Westover, Fire Survivor California wildland and interface fires: Prehistoric, recent, and potential ………………………………8 Robert E. Martin, Resource Education Management and Research (REMAR) Scott L. Stephens, University of California, Berkeley Ken Blonski, UC Forest Products Laboratory Jerry Kent, East Bay Regional Park District Develop a landscape-scale framework for interagency wildland fuels management planning ……………………………………………………………………………………23 Pat Lineback, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Fireline Program ………………………………………………………………………………………24 Bill Raichle, Insurance Services Office Inc. Assessing fire risk in Florida using integrated GIS and remote sensing approaches …………………..25 Julie Coen, Pacific Meridian Resources Modeling fire loss into the future using county general plans and GIS ………………………………..26 Dave Sapsis, CDF Fire and Resource Assessment Program Vegetation Change and Fire Hazard in the San Francisco Bay open spaces …………………………..27 William Russell, USGS/BRD Golden Gate Field Station Joe McBride, University of California, Berkeley GIS and remote sensing applications for fire fuel management ……………………………………….39 Clare Hess, Space Imaging Services Single Factor categorical data Analysis of the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley "Tunnel" fire …………………40 Donald Gordon, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Robert Martin, REMAR Development of a seasonal fire severity forecast for the contiguous US: Weather forecast and validation... …………………………………………………………………………………52 John Roads, Scripps Experimental Climate Prediction Center Overview--Transitions, Testing, and Politics of Performance Code Development ………………………………………………………………….…..58 Frank C. Beall, Forest Products Laboratory, University of California Transition from prescriptive to performance based codes ……………………………………………….63 Brady Williamson, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley 1 Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: 10 Years After the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire Testing protocols and fire tests in support of performance based codes …………………………..…….64 Steve Quarles and Frank C. Beall, Forest Products Laboratory, University of California Politics of code …………………………………………………………………………………………..74 Ron Coleman, Fire and Emergency Television Network(FETN) Water supply systems and fire flows at East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, California ………………. ..……………………………………………………………………75 Jose L. Rios, David J. Rehnstrom and William R. Kirkpatrick, East Bay Municipal Utility District Fire, water and politics ……………………………………………………………………………...……84 Gilbert G. Bendix, P.E., Society of Fire Protection Engineers Intervening in the catastrophic risk and trauma cycle …………………………………………..………..94 Robin Freeman, Institute for Sustainable Policy Studies, Merritt College The integration of FIREWISE planning with FireSafe Communities ……………………………….…100 Ron Montague, Firewise Communities National Management Team, Fire Wise 2000 Inc. Earth, wind and fire revisited …………………………………………………………………….……..102 Erich Linse and Amy Castello, Air Resources Board Causes