Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District CWPP (2006)
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Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District Wildland Urban Interface Community Wildfire Protection Plan Prepared for: Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District Boulder, Colorado Submitted By: Anchor Point Boulder, Colorado April 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS PURPOSE ................................................................................................................. 1 Goals and Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 1 Other Desired Outcomes ........................................................................................................................ 2 UNDERSTANDING THIS DOCUMENT ....................................................................... 3 The National Fire Plan ........................................................................................................................... 3 Interagency Collaboration ...................................................................................................................... 4 Study Area Profile .................................................................................................................................. 5 VALUES ................................................................................................................. 10 Life Safety and Homes ......................................................................................................................... 10 Commerce and Infrastructure ............................................................................................................... 10 Recreation and Life Style ..................................................................................................................... 11 Recreation and Life Style ..................................................................................................................... 11 HABITAT EFFECTIVENESS & ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES \F C \L ................ 11 CURRENT RISK SITUATION .................................................................................. 13 FIRE REGIME CONDITION CLASS ........................................................................ 17 Condition Class Description ................................................................................................................. 18 FIRE BEHAVIOR POTENTIAL ................................................................................ 19 Fire Behavior Potential ......................................................................................................................... 19 Home Mitigation FMU (Structural Ignitability Reduction .................................................................. 26 SOLUTIONS AND MITIGATION .............................................................................. 31 Addressing, Evacuation and Access ..................................................................................................... 31 Addressing 31 Evacuation Routes 31 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................34 OTHER ACCESS ROUTE RECOMMENDATIONS .....................................................................34 Defensible Space .................................................................................................................................. 35 Landscape Scale Fuels Modification .................................................................................................... 37 RECOMMENDATIONS 39 ii Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District April 2006 Community Wildfire Protection Plan Current Projects .................................................................................................................................... 42 Public Education Efforts FMU ............................................................................................................. 44 Recommendations 45 Fire Department Capabilities ............................................................................................................... 46 Training 48 RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................................................................................................48 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................ 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 52 WEBSITE RESOURCES .................................................................................. 54 iii Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District April 2006 Community Wildfire Protection Plan LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. LOCATION OF BMFPD .................................................................................................................................. 5 FIGURE 2. TYPICAL AREA .............................................................................................................................................. 5 FIGURE 3. STUDY AREA COMMUNITIES ......................................................................................................................... 7 FIGURE 4. PERCENT SLOPE ............................................................................................................................................ 8 FIGURE 5. ELEVATION ................................................................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 6. LOCAL FIRE STATISTICS ........................................................................................................................... 15 FIGURE 7. ARNF RANGER DISTRICTS ......................................................................................................................... 16 FIGURE 8. CONDITION CLASS MAP .............................................................................................................................. 17 FIGURE 9. FIRE BEHAVIOR POTENTIAL (AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS) ............................................................... 20 FIGURE 10. FIRE BEHAVIOR POTENTIAL (EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS) ............................................................. 21 FIGURE 11. FLAME LENGTH PREDICTIONS (AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS) .......................................................... 22 FIGURE 12. FLAME LENGTH PREDICTIONS (EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS) .......................................................... 23 FIGURE 13. CROWN FIRE POTENTIAL (AVERAGE WEATHER CONDITIONS) .................................................................. 24 FIGURE 14. CROWN FIRE POTENTIAL (EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS) ........................................................... 25 FIGURE 15. COMMUNITY GROUPINGS BY HAZARD CLASS ........................................................................................... 27 FIGURE 16. STUDY AREA COMMUNITY HAZARD RATINGS .......................................................................................... 28 FIGURE 17. HAZARD RATINGS BY COMMUNITY .......................................................................................................... 29 FIGURE 18. ADDRESSING CONCERNS - BROKEN MARKER ........................................................................................... 31 FIGURE 19. PROPOSED EVACUATION ROUTES ............................................................................................................. 33 FIGURE 20. RIDGE WITH WIND EXPOSURE................................................................................................................... 35 FIGURE 21. SADDLE, LOW AREA ON A RIDGE .............................................................................................................. 35 FIGURE 22. DEFENSIBLE SPACE ZONES ....................................................................................................................... 35 FIGURE 23. CONVECTIVE AND RADIANT ENERGY ....................................................................................................... 36 FIGURE 24. FIREBRANDS, TRANSPORTED BY CONVECTIVE LIFTING CAN CREATE SPOT FIRES ................................... 36 FIGURE 25. LARGE SCALE FUELBREAKS ...................................................................................................................... 41 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. HAZARD RANKING OF COMMUNITIES IN THE STUDY AREA ............................................................................ 7 TABLE 2. CONDITION CLASS DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................................................ 18 TABLE 3. RECOMMENDED TREATMENT DISTANCES FOR MID-SLOPE ROADS .............................................................. 38 iv Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District April 2006 Community Wildfire Protection Plan PURPOSE In response to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) and in an effort to create incentives, Congress directed interface communities to prepare a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Once completed, a CWPP provides statutory incentives for the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to give consideration to the priorities of local communities as they develop and implement forest management and hazardous fuel reduction projects. In the case of the Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District (BMFPD), the need for a community-based hazard and risk assessment (HRA) was born from an internal need, not a federal directive, over a decade ago. CWPPs can take a variety of forms,