TOWN OF TRUCKEE
ROADWAY VEGETATION Informational Meeting MANAGEMENT PROJECT May 19, 2021 MEETING FORMAT
Presentation: . Truckee Public Works. . Truckee Fire Protection District. . Truckee Emergency Management.
Questions/Comments after presentations.
Two ways to submit questions or comments. Please keep comments to 3 minutes +‐. . Text in Q&A section. . “Raise Hand” function.
2 WOODGROVE BANK PROJECT TEAM
TOWN OF TRUCKEE PUBLIC WORKS Dan Wilkins, Public Works Director Scott Mathot, Project Manager Riley Powers, Project Assistant Thom Ravey, Project Inspector
TOWN OF TRUCKEE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS Manager Bob Womack, Truckee Emergency Operations Manager
TRUCKEE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT Bill Seline, Fire Chief
3 WOODGROVE BANK CURRENT PROJECT DETAILS
4 WOODGROVE BANK What are the goals for the project?
Increased public safety and wildfire resiliency through improved evacuation routes and emergency vehicle access.
Improved roadside safety by removing obstructions and pushing flammable materials further from evacuation routes.
Improve right-of-way maintenance and operations, including snow removal, roadway maintenance, and utility reliability. 5 WOODGROVE BANK What is the scope of this project?
Treatment of 100 + miles of roadway . Tahoe Donner – Complete (61 miles) . Glenshire - In progress (12 miles complete, 10 remaining) . Sierra Meadows – Scheduled June/July (10 miles) . Prosser Lakeview – Scheduled July/August (10 miles)
Removal of vegetation < 24” diameter within 10 feet of road pavement.
Public right of way only - No private property.
6 WOODGROVE BANK 2020 Tahoe Donner Project
7 WOODGROVE BANK 2021 Roadway Vegetation Project
8 WOODGROVE BANK Veg management history
None from 1960’s - early 2,000’s
Incremental from early 2000’s - 2019.
Systematic - 2020 through ? (driven largely by public safety considerations associated with wildfire)
9 WOODGROVE BANK Right of way Management vs. forest management
Right of way management- Focused on narrow corridor with multiple infrastructure and public safety objectives.
Forest Management = large contiguous wooded areas focused on forest health
10 WOODGROVE BANK FOREST MANAGEMENT
RIGHT‐OF‐WAY MANAGEMENT
11 WOODGROVE BANK Right of Way Management getation Removal
12 WOODGROVE BANK Evolution of Project Scope
Tahoe Donner – 10’ clear zone and additional 5’ of thinning on each side of roadway.
Reduced to 10’ clear zone for Sierra Meadows, Prosser, and Glenshire in recognition of higher degree of private encroachment into right of way.
Further reduced to exclude trees 24”+ in diameter.
Evacuation, Emergency vehicle access, and infrastructure resiliency benefits have been reduced significantly.
13 WOODGROVE BANK Public Process to date
2019-2020 Community forums. 3,000 mailers to adjacent properties. One on one meetings with approx. 1,000 property owners (and growing). TFPD Board meeting May 19, 2020. Town Council meetings May 12, 2020 and July 28, 2020.
Town Council meeting March 23, 2021.
14 WOODGROVE BANK WILDFIRE RESILIENCY
15 WOODGROVE BANK Truckee Fire Protection District
Things have changed
Last 10 years increasingly devastating fire seasons
Lack of natural fires = build up of fuel, over growth in Truckee. Not Natural forests.
More people have moved to the WUI
Climate change coupled with overgrowth is stressing trees leading to dryness, bark beetle, death and increased fire intensity.
More visitors (ie. VRBO)
Wildfire intensity has increased
Multiple recent, nearby large fires, destruction and death.
Locally, surveys have shown in the last few years that 95% of people feel that wildfire is their #1 concern.
Are we heading towards a disaster here?
WOODGROVE (Yellow are big fires in last 100 years) BANK What we see?
10 big fires each season TFPD firefighters and managers have been on almost every large fire in northern California for months each summer. Work closely with forest agencies. TFPD Forester is a career Cal Fire Division Chief and RPF Faster more intense fires, more people, more evacuations, people trapped - all leading to more importance on roadway safety. All vegetation matters to some degree Washoe Fire 2007 (West Shore) WOODGROVE BANK Capt. Brown and Crew at the Camp Fire, 2018
WOODGROVE BANK Camp Fire (2018)
TheeasternedgeoftheCamp Fire in Paradise was roughly 70 miles from Truckee. Due to high winds, at one point the Camp Fire was spreading at a rate of 300 feet per second. (Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire Chief in 2018) Less than 12 hours to consume 70 miles the entire town of Paradise. With sustained winds, that fire could have been to Truckee in about 20 minutes.
19 WOODGROVE BANK Capt. Jitloff and crew, North Complex, 2020
WOODGROVE BANK Loyalton Fire, North of Truckee, 2020 Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, 2020
I 80 Fire, 2007 near Tahoe Donner WOODGROVE BANK What’s the answer?
• Fuel reduction in the WUI around homes and neighborhoods. Annual maintenance because the fuel grows back.
• Cal Fire says fuel reduction is $2-3 billion a year problem. Truckee 3 million in Grants over last 5 years.
• Locally, voters will consider a Wildfire Prevention tax to assist with green waste, defensible space, removing fire fuels. August
• Long Term – things like home hardening, considering development codes
• There is not a “silver bullet”. Many things contribute to wildfire prevention.
• Need to do what we can NOW.
WOODGROVE BANK Roadside vegetation opportunity
Reduce fire fuels
Make it easier to get out, and get a fire engine in
Make road firebreaks wider so firefighters could take a stand against a fire more safely.
Reduce the chances of a fire taking hold near the roadway
A few years ago applied for and won a $500k Cal Fire grant to improve ingress and egress by reducing roadside vegetation – Cal Fire agreed. WOODGROVE BANK EMERGENCY Robert Womack – Town of Truckee Emergency Services Coord. MANAGEMENT AND Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) - IAEM ROADSIDE OPERATIONS Master’s – Emergency Services –CSULB 24 WOODGROVE Truckee PD Sergeant (ret.) BANK Emergency Management is not about the routine, we have to be ready for the worst day. (Craig Fugate – former FEMA Director) • We cannot predict where a fire will start, whether it will be inside or outside a subdivision, or what the weather conditions will be.
• Egress / ingress has to be available everywhere to the best of our ability.
• This is not about a forest area, this is a fairly densely populated area with heavy fuel loading from a variety of fuel types that when these ignite, could have catastrophic results very quickly.
WOODGROVE North Fire – Butte County - 2020 Sierra Meadows - 2021 BANK What happens when a subdivision becomes fully involved………..
That morning in Paradise, streets were blocked by fallen trees, disabled cars or even fire blowing crosswise across them. Flaming roadside vegetation slowed or halted traffic on major evacuation routes like Skyway so that many of the cross streets that fed them, like Pearson, backed up, penning other drivers defenselessly into the side streets that fed them (Camp Fire survivors -- NY Times Article 7/31/2019)
Analysis of 11 significant wildfires (2017-2019) revealed key similarities including: • High vegetation and fuel levels and high winds that exacerbated the spread of fires; • Rapid fire spread along the wildland-urban interface (WUI); • Significant evacuations via personal vehicles leading to congestion; • Roadway and debris impediments to evacuating; (Wong, Broader, Shaheen 2020) WOODGROVE BANK You provide the defense, we'll provide the offense (Cal-Fire Chief)
• People will slow down, move to the center of the roadway, and maybe not even go when fire is burning along the roadway edge (Camp Fire Survivor - 2021).
• We know from fire survivors that they will be slow to leave for whatever reason – then they will clog roads – we have to give them the best chance for survival. Sierra Meadows - 2021 • We have to provide public safety personnel room to work.
WOODGROVE Camp Fire (Paradise) - 2018 Figure by U.S. Department of the Interior (2016b). BANK How are we in Emergency Management addressing these issues?
Many municipalities are mandating 15 feet of vertical clearance over roadways, and 10 feet of horizontal clearance along roadsides and driveways. (Cities of Larkspur and Ross Municipal Code, Marin County Fire Districts, San Diego County Fire Districts and Municipalities)
Diagram depicting language found in many Municipal Codes and County Ordinances in California
Side Note – insurance issues
Cancellation letter from AAA (2020) – most insurance letters have similar language about roadways WOODGROVE USFS roadway – TNF - 2021 BANK Key Takeaways for Emergency Management and Roadside Vegetation
Any route can become an egress/ingress route depending on where the fire.
Flame impingement from roadside vegetation can cause major traffic issues during evacuations.
People often delay evacuating for whatever reason or the fire is simply moving too quickly to leave ahead of the flame front.
During evacuations people often are trying to leave once the fire is on them with fire burning in roadside vegetation and impeding access.
Bottom Line: Safety is our priority – for both Photo from Engine 95 – TFPD – Martis Fire 2001 - citizens and public safety looking east on I-80 at Iceland Grade personnel WOODGROVE BANK INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT
30 WOODGROVE BANK Public Right-of-Way
Area of land that the public roadways are located on. It is Not private property. 60 feet wide on most Town roadways. 15-20 feet beyond the paved road edge.
31 WOODGROVE BANK Right-of-Way Maintenance
Town currently maintains 160 miles of roadways in Truckee. That mileage increases on an annual basis.
Maintenance includes roadways, drainage facilities, and roadsides.
Roadside brushing and chipping included in Public Works annual maintenance schedule.
32 WOODGROVE BANK Snow Removal Operations
Vertical obstructions along roadsides cause significant snow removal operational inefficiencies.
Clusters of small diameter trees can act as a screen and inhibits snow removal operations.
Roadside vegetation causes damage to equiment. 33 WOODGROVE BANK Snow Removal Operations
34 WOODGROVE BANK Questions/Comments
Use Chat function, or
Use “raise hand” function in zoom
35 WOODGROVE BANK Project Contact Information
Phone: (530) 582‐5379
Email: [email protected]
Presentation Recording: https://bit.ly/TOTvegetation
36 WOODGROVE BANK THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING All presentation information is recorded and will be available at the following link by Friday, May 21st at 5:00PM https://bit.ly/TOTvegetation For additional information contact:
Thom Ravey (530) 582-5379
2021 Roadway Vegetation Management Project | Town of Truckee