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Living on the Wildside

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Living on the Wildside JOURNAL nfpaTHE SOURCE FOR FIRE, ELECTRICAL, BUILDING, & LIFE SAFETY INFORMATION LIVING ON THE WILD SIDE The worst U.S. wildfire season in years forces thousands of people to evacuate communities bordering wildlands MARCH/APRIL 2003 WWW.NFPAJOURNAL.ORG FIRSTWORD ANYONE WHO ENJOYS visiting the wildlands Firewise Communities/USA Program, NFPA of the United States can probably tell at least one and its partners educate Americans about wild- tale about a benign hike in the woods that sud- fires and help communities develop programs denly brought them back in touch with the tailored to their needs. realities of nature. On more than one occasion, I The Firewise Communities/USA Program pro- have begun a hike in the White Mountains of jects vary from community to community. In New Hampshire on a warm spring day, only to Briargate, Florida, for example, the program was find myself fighting through a snowstorm an used to develop strategies that will help the com- hour or two later. munity avoid a repeat of problems faced when Many of the thousands of Americans who wildfires hit the area in 1998. A million-gallon choose to live in areas abutting our nation’s (3,785,344-liter) water tank is now available for wildlands have also learned that, along with the fighting fires, dirt from excavated lakes was used Making wildfire prevention a life safety priority beautiful views and to establish firebreaks, and pine forests have been peaceful surround- thinned. At River Bluff Ranch, near Spokane, ings, comes the threat Washington, roads have been improved, utilities of wildfire engulfing are now underground, and covenants require their communities. fire-resistant roofing, deep side-yard setbacks, This problem has got- and the maintenance of defensible space. And in ten a lot of attention Sundance, Utah, spring and fall chipper/clean-out recently, as droughts days are becoming annual events. in the West continue This community leadership is central to the to contribute to large, deadly wildfires. program’s success. By creating a framework in For years, NFPA has worked hard on the spe- which fire and emergency management officials cial fire problems of those areas where wildlands work with concerned citizens, communities most and development intersect. Since 1986, NFPA at risk from wildfire can put plans in place to has had a cooperative agreement with the deal with one. That means that the more USDA Forest Service to develop and implement involved a community is, the more lives will be fire protection and prevention programs to saved and property preserved. reduce the nation’s wildfire losses. That relation- We can’t change the laws of nature. Wildfires ship grew into the National Wildland/Urban will continue to shape and reshape our environ- Interface Fire Protection Program, sponsored by ment. But that doesn’t mean we should the Forest Service, the Department of the Inte- withdraw from wildland areas. It does mean that rior, the U.S. Fire Administration, the National we must take special steps to live responsibly in Association of State Foresters, and NFPA. those areas, to protect both the environment and Out of that relationship, a new public-private ourselves. That’s what the Firewise Communi- partnership, The National Firewise Communi- ties/USA Program is all about, and that’s why ties/USA Recognition Program, was launched. we at NFPA are proud to be involved with it. On behalf of NFPA, I signed an agreement last November with the Forest Service and the James M. Shannon National Association of State Foresters to pro- President, NFPA mote and encourage this innovative program, which encourages communities to develop local solutions to unwanted wildfire. Through the PHOTOGRAPH: KATHY TARANTOLA PHOTOGRAPH: KATHY WWW.NFPAJOURNAL.ORG NFPA JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2003 3 REMOTE BUILDING A HOME IN A REMOTE REGION WITH SPECTACULAR MOUNTAIN SCENERY OR WITH THE SPLENDID ISOLATION AND TRANQUILITY OF THE DESERT IS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR MANY URBAN DWELLERS. BUT IT’S A DREAM THAT CAN RAPIDLY BECOME A NIGHTMARE IF HOMEOWNERS AREN’T WILLING TO CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD FIRE PROTECTION. CONTROL Chris Heftel, a Washington state land developer, has seen how destructive wild- fire can be. So he wanted to minimize the chances that such a disaster would destroy his latest project, an upscale, gated community of $500,000 single- family homes on Lookout Mountain, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Spokane. >> by BILL FLYNN ❚ illustration by JEFFREY FISHER 4 NFPA JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2003 WWW.NFPAJOURNAL.ORG REMOTE CONTROL At first, he was inclined to suggest River Bluff Ranch covenants are used to convince homeowners to (0.3-centimeter) that prospective buyers follow the con- paved two-lane roads, secondary evac- change their building material and mesh to keep fronds cepts outlined in the Firewise uation roads, and a network of forest construction habits. Frenchtown, Mon- from entering open- Communities/USA program as part of roads. Also required are underground tana, with a population of 1,700, ings in the structure. their development contract. But when utilities; a series of non-potable-water adopted NFPA 1144 in 1998. The research also he was ready to start building last storage tanks with dry hydrants; fire- “One of the things I like about the seems to suggest summer, Heftel decided to require resistant roofing, double-paned code is it’s a standard we can refer to,” that contemporary prospective buyers to sign a covenant windows, deep side yard setbacks, says Frenchtown’s Fire Chief Scott Wal- methods of fighting legally binding them to use fire-resis- defensible space, and vegetation main- dron. “Except for the cities, there’s no wildfires by reduc- tive building materials and follow tenance; and an on-site caretaker, building code in Montana, so NFPA ing the fuel load wildfire prevention practices modeled equipment, and shop. 1144 is a tool that we use with builders may not be as effec- after those in the Firewise program. The covenants further require that and homeowners to change their habits tive as believed When fully built, the development’s the community’s homeowners’ associa- regarding the materials they use and because thinning nearly 100 homes will all be struc- tion, when formed, enforce the the need to cut back on fuels.” fuels on public turally fire-resistive and have a covenants, educate the residents, main- NFPA 1144 provides those responsi- lands does little to defensible zone around them. tain the roads and water storage ble for fire protection, land-use reduce the ignitabil- It was a bold step, but, Heftel says, facilities, manage an ongoing forest planning, property development, prop- ity of a home on no one buying into the River Bluff stewardship program, and implement erty maintenance, and others private land. It also Ranch development has refused to sign. suggests that the “We made it clear to everyone how wildland/urban important it is to use fire-resistive interface zone does- building materials and to be commit- NFPA 1144 PROVIDES THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR FIRE PROTEC- n’t fully take into ted to fuels maintenance in an TION, LAND-USE PLANNING, PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT, account the area of environment such as this,” Heftel says. prime fire risk and Firewise Communities/USA is an PROPERTY MAINTENANCE, AND OTHERS RESPONSIBLE FOR, OR A family watches from their front yard as the Missionary Ridge wildfire rages out of control north of Durango, fuel hazards: the education program sponsored by the Colorado. Veteran Forest Service worker Terry Barton was charged with deliberately setting the wildfire south- house and sur- National Wildland/Urban Interface INTERESTED IN, IMPROVING FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY IN WILD west of Denver that destroyed at least 25 houses and forced 7,500 people from their homes. rounding vegetation. Fire Protection Program, a consortium FIRE-PRONE AREAS WITH MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAN- Cohen further made up of the USDA Forest Service, secure extra help for a fuels-reduction Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, stresses the importance of the conditions the U.S. Department of Interior, the NING, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, FIRE PREVENTION, AND program. “We’ve managed to do Montana, a fire-resistive wooden struc- that exist when a wildfire is raging. National Association of State Foresters, about 200 properties so far,” he notes. ture surrounded by a 100-foot “When an extreme event, such as the U.S. Fire Administration, and MANAGEMENT. Before new homes can be constructed, (30-meter) area in which fuels have an intensely hot wildfire occurs, many NFPA. The consortium’s covenants, the prospective owners must obtain a fire been thinned has a good chance of hundreds of structures may be which require fire-resistive building safety permit from the fire department. surviving a fast-moving crown fire. destroyed,” he says. “The involvement materials and defensible zones around the recommended Firewise Communi- responsible for, or interested in, At this point, Waldron uses NFPA 1144 However, Cohen’s research seems to of urban fire apparatus at this point is properties, are a new concept in the ties budget—currently $2 per person—to improving fire and life safety in wildl- to inform the homeowners what they indicate that the principal cause of pretty much ineffective.” wildland/urban interface. However, be used for future Firewise efforts. fire-prone areas with minimum need to do to before construction. home losses during wildfires isn’t nec- He points to the Los Alamos, New community adoption of wildfire stan- “No one balked at committing to the requirements for planning, construc- “And we go back and check before essarily the buildup of fuels. Rather, Mexico, fire in 2000 as an example. dards such as NFPA 1144, Protection of Firewise covenants,” Heftel says. “They tion, maintenance, fire prevention, and the permit is issued,” he says.
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