Highway 108 FireSafe Council, Inc. Tuolumne County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) December 12, 2004 Acknowledgments: The Tuolumne County Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) was prepared with the assistance of numerous individuals who contributed immeasurably to what the committee believes to be one of the most comprehensive CWPP in the state. Without this group of individuals bringing their broad range of backgrounds and interest to the discussion table, the effectiveness and overall acceptability of the CWPP would not have occurred. Although many people contributed at various points along the way, a group of individuals were a part of the process from start to finish. The committee would like to thank Tom James ,South West InterFace Team (SWIFT); Beth Martinez, US Forest Service (USFS)/108 Strategic Group; James Montgomery, Tuolumne County GIS; Rich Strazzo, California Division of Forestry (CDF); Rick Jerome, John Buckley, Jerry Tannhauser and John Harden, Highway108 Fire Safe Council; Nancy Longmore , Millie Beranekand Frank Beranek, Yosemite Foothills Fire Safe Council; Maureen Frank, Tuolumne County Chief AdministratorÆs Office/Office of Emergency Services (CAO/OES); KaryHubbard, Tuolumne County Fire Marshals Office; Bobby Shindelar and Jerry McGowan, USFS; Mike Barrows, Sonora City Fire Department and Mike Noonan, CDF/Tuolumne County Fire Department (TCFD). This memorandum provides information on where Tuolumne County is in terms of the CWPP assessments and data validation, and how well it has been integrated into the County’s daily operations. There is a section which discusses institutional issues that have impacted implementation of CWPP projects. The final section includes integration of existing CWPP into the master Tuolumne County CWPP. CWPP Business Process Assessment The formulation of the CWPP was accomplished following eight steps. 1. Convene Decision‑makers ‑ the CWPP working group was formed in September 2004. The collaborative partnership was established to develop a CWPP which would establish synergy between all existing agencies as well serve as a conduit to establish priorities for each community within the county. The group considered input from all working plans, community groups, agencies, and strategic groups. The objective was to have city, county, state, federal, and local public participation through Fire Safe Councils to work cooperatively to help protect life, property, and natural resources from wildfires. 2. Involve Federal Agencies û The USFS, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Yosemite National Park (YNP) participated in the working group, provided guidance, data, and direction for the CWPP. 3. Engage Interested Parties û Every fire agency in the County was contacted and encouraged to participate in the development of the CWPP. The two Fire Safe Councils provided the best platform to reach the other interested parties. Participation in the process was impressive and a good cross representation of public and private input was obtained. 4. Establish a Community Based Map û GIS technical expertise was provided by the USFS, Tuolumne County, and CDF. The mapping products are contained throughout this document. Residential concentrations with regard to the community protection areas have been identified. The pre‑fire planning identifies all existing and planned fire defense systems, and any infrastructure or other pertinent information which includes water sources, helispots, staging areas, safety zones, area hazards, jurisdictions, fuel types, special management zones, incident support facilities, and fire history. 5. Develop Community Risk Assessment ‑ The assessment of the fuels, weather, level of service, and assets at risk was completed in 1998. These assessments were used to identify the high hazard areas within the County. The fuels analysis showed that the fuels found in many areas that are threatened by major fires on a regular basis are rated medium or high hazard, not very high as would be expected. In many cases, fires would start in areas where very high hazard fuels exist, and then progress to the point of threatening communities and other valuable assets in areas with medium or high hazard fuels. This demonstrated the fact that the knowledge and experience of seasoned Tuolumne County fire suppression professionals was necessary to develop a valid risk assessment. With these factors being utilized, a list of Communities at Risk is identified in this document. 6. Establish Community Hazard Reduction Priorities and Recommendations to Reduce Structural Ignitability û The working group recognized the need to identify applicable Federal, State, and County laws and ordinances, and thusly references them in this document. These conventional methods are a foundation which will minimize fire starts, maximize building construction types, provision of sufficient clearances, and enhance infrastructure and other strategic fire defense systems. Other non conventional and creative methods have been adopted and should continue to be factored in the prioritization process. The CWPP working group must continue to refresh the priorities in an attempt to keep up with the changing demographics and communities at risk. 7. Develop an action plan and Assessment Strategy ‑ During work on this document it was determined that reassessment must occur annually. The fire control professionals, the Fire Safe Councils, the Community and Strategic Groups had input into the CWPP; this provided the best format for assessing communities at risk and mitigations of the risks. The CWPP analysis will be used to justify the choice of projects based on a common sense and collaborative interpretation of the data. 8. Finalize the CWPP û The collaborative development of this plan is significant and goes a long way toward solidifying the plan. The community, through the Fire Safe Councils, had significant participation in the development of the plan. All fire agencies had the opportunity to participate in the development of the plan. Since the plan incorporates all communities at risk within Tuolumne County, the CWPP should be adopted by the County Board of Supervisors. CWPP Data Layers Validation of the key CWPP data layers (fuels, fire history, ignitions, weather station coverage, and asset at risk data) in Tuolumne County was completed in 1998. Validation of the fire history, ignitions, fuels and weather station coverage was done in 1996 and 1997. The weather station coverage and asset at risk data was compiled in 1998. Over the next two to three years, this data will be re‑assessed to ensure its accuracy as part of the ôlivingö CWPP document. CWPP Integration into Daily Operations Integration of the CWPP into daily operations will be critical over the next couple of years. To accomplish this cohesive goal; integration of Ignition Management, Strategic Fire Defense Systems, Fire and Vegetation Management Plans (VMP) of all the co‑operators in the working group, into one document will continue to be a work in progress. The staff of participating agencies is becoming more familiar with what the CWPP is all about, especially since grant funds have been awarded to pay for various projects throughout the County. In the 2005 CWPP, Chief Officers of participating agencies will be playing a larger role in the CWPP development by preparing summaries of the wildland fire hazards and assets at risk in their respective jurisdictions. Based on the issues identified in their summaries, a collaborative effort with communities and agencies will develop mitigations to reduce the hazard and protect the assets. As each Chief Officer further analyzes their jurisdiction, it is anticipated that more detailed prescriptions will be developed in future updates to the CWPP document. Key CWPP Players Many members of the Fire Service, Fire Safe Councils, Strategy Groups and others; have assisted in all aspects of the CWPP from data validation to project identification, planning and implementation. This type of interaction will be important to maintain the document with accurate and updated information. Interagency cooperation is a key component of the Tuolumne County Pre‑Fire Management activities. The CWPP committee is made up of several interagency groups including federal, state and local government agencies within the County. Many cooperative projects have been completed as a result of agencies working hand in hand. The two Fire Safe Councils that were formed in 2002 through a National Fire Plan Grant within Tuolumne County have become more involved with pre‑fire management project development and implementation. The Councils also act as the primary link between the Fire Agencies and the local citizens. The Fire Safe Councils have been working closely with the agency staffs to devise projects that will benefit all citizens living within the County. They have also applied for and received grants for fuels reduction and education projects. CWPP Institutional Issues Many institutional issues have made implementation of the Tuolumne County CWPP, projects, grants and contracts more difficult. These include: 1. The delay in announcing grants that were awarded through the National Fire Plan reduced the time frame to actually implement the grant projects. a. This has frustrated both the agency chiefs and cooperator sponsors of these projects. b. A more timely process must be developed to streamline grant award notification. 2. USFS contract equipment, crews and CDF fire crews have been very involved in the implementation of fire plan projects.