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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4-11-12 Forester UpdateApril 11, 2011 Forester Update Deschutes County Commissioners Agenda Program Update Since the last update the following accomplishments have occurred: Resolved Grant 1 of the FEMA grant where Deschutes County had approximately $180,000 fiscal liability. We are awaiting the formal documentation from FEMA. Working to resolve Grant 2, two areas of concern are Starwood and Aspen Lakes where work occurred based on my interpretation of the EA, we continue to make progress but may need additional intervention by the congressional delegation. It rest with FEMA’s interpretation of EA coverage versus Deschutes County. Grant 3, we are finalizing the Scope of Work again and still remain optimistic we will have the environmental assessments complete and finalizing the $3 million grant by September. Finalized the qualified pool concept with 24 bidders. Finalized the Spring FireFree Program and will treat fuels in 14 neighborhoods this spring and summer utilizing remaining grants. Completing the final draft of the East West CWPP, expect to complete by June and then will move on to the update of the Upper Deschutes Coalition CWPP. Continued involvement with the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Restoration project with significant progress made with both input to environmental assessments and work on the ground within the project area. Close to finalizing the $300,000 grant with the FS for the County Forester to provide leadership for the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Strategy. Participated in the IAFC WUI Conference in Reno with over 500 participants. Commissioner Unger was able to attend to present the efforts locally with the Deschutes Collaborative and both Katie Lighthall and I made presentations on fire adapted communities using the Project Wildfire model and the Cohesive Strategy. Completed four grinding operations and successfully closed the disposal sites on county owned lands. We ground over 20,000 yards of defensible space material which equates to over 2,000 acres treated since last fall. Again, this material was all contributed by our sweat equity program. Completed an agreement with Solid Waste to utilize existing facilities for our sweat equity and other fuels management programs. The exciting news that all materials brought in by FireFree effort count towards recycling credits for Solid Waste and we will now go back for the last several years to document those estimates. We conservatively estimate over 400,000 cubic yard of recycled materials which equates to over 40,000 acres treated, and over 100,000 green tons of material. Working in conjunction with the City of Bend, Parks and Recreation and William Smith Properties we successfully treated 39 acres on the south slope of Awbrey Butte which was the largest piece of open space remaining. This fuels treatment substantially reduced the wildland fire threat and our costs/contributions were only $4,000 which was paid using existing grants. We partnered with the City of Bend, Oregon Department of Forestry and Rim Rock West to create another FireWise Community in Bend with effort continuing to identify others. We now have 11 FireWise Communities in Deschutes County. Successfully advertised the Assistant County Forester Position with approximately 40 applicants. Future Considerations Assistant County Forester position: I have successfully screened 37 applicants for the Assistant County Forester position. The position officially closes on April 8, 2012. I expect a few more applicants and will screen those on Monday and have used the following criteria for the “best qualified” and those deserving of an interview: Combination of experience and education to successfully perform the duties. Experience with Community Fire Plans including the development, maintenance and understanding of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and the implications of CWPP in relation to community/stakeholder involvement and actions by the federal agencies for treating fuels on public lands. Wildland fuels and fire experience in Central Oregon fuel models, and ICS experience and qualifications which would enable the applicant to deal with wildland fires, fuels treatments, evacuations including coordination with law enforcement and respective local, state and federal agencies with wildland fire jurisdictional responsibilities. Knowledge of local, state and federal wildland fire laws and policy. Knowledge of applicable environmental laws and best management practices. Using these evaluation criteria I have narrowed the field to eight highly qualified candidates and will be coordinating the interviews with a target date of June 1st of the successful candidate to begin work. Unprotected Lands Designation of Fire Chief for the County Forester Historical Perspective: In Deschutes County there are approximately 175,000 acres of unprotected lands. Simply stated these lands have no organized structural or wildland response, the lands are not within a designated fire district and in all cases are immediately adjacent to other jurisdictions. These lands generally are covered by law enforcement and ambulance service districts. These lands are generally north and west of Redmond, west of Bend between Bend and Sisters, all of Alfalfa and lands in eastern Deschutes County but including the communities of Milican, Brothers and Hampton. There are approximately 350 homes located within the unprotected lands. The purpose of this preliminary discussion is for the County Commissioners to consider formally designating the County Forester as the wildland fire Chief for the unprotected lands in Deschutes County. The rationale for this recommendation is as follows: Deschutes County has both defensible space and open burning ordinances in place and the County Forester has officially been deputized by the County Sheriff to enforce these regulations. These acres are currently covered by Community Fire Plans and classified by Senate Bill 360 defensible space standards. It is inevitable that these unprotected land will experience a significant wildland fire in future years and other than a law enforcement response for evacuations, Deschutes County has no formal process for taking the appropriate action for a wildland fire response. The range of actions may include, do nothing, request assistance by hire of cooperating agencies wildland fire apparatus and staffing to successfully mitigate the loss of life and property in the unprotected lands, and in perhaps the worst case scenario request State Fire Marshall assistance under the Conflagration Act which mobilizes sufficient resources to protect homes and property from damages of a wildland fire. The County Commissioners have statutory authority under 401.309¹ Declaration of state of emergency by city or county and 401.305¹ Emergency management agency of city or county, to formally delegate those emergency decisions by a qualified person during these situations. Currently if a wildland fire occurred where communities, structures and property were threatened, the County Forester would respond but the question of authority, decision space, fiscal responsibilities are unknown. The consequences of failure without a programmatic strategic plan in place are simply too high. From a risk management perspective, Deschutes County must identify those circumstances where the appropriate actions would be taken, decisions made by a qualified and competent wildland fire professional and within the purview of existing statutory authorities.