Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.01.14 Wildfire Safety Committee Minutes Action Minutes FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE MITIGATION COMMISSION Wednesday, January 14, 2015 11:OOAM to 1:OOPM Conference Room, Ashland Fire Station #1 455 Siskiyou Blvd I. CALL TO ORDER: The Wildfire Mitigation Commission meeting was called to order at 11:03 a.m. on January 14, 2015 at Ashland Fire &Rescue Station#1 located at 455 Siskiyou Blvd. Attendees include: Ashley Lara, Chris Chambers, Tim Bewley, Ron Parker, Bruce Moats, Stephen Gagne, Vicky Sturtevant and Russ Silbiger. II. INTRODUCTIONS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: December lOtn Tim Bewley motioned, and Ron Parker seconded the motion, to approve the December lOtn 2014 regular meeting minutes and the motion carried unanimously. IV. GUESTS & PUBLIC FORUM George McKinley and Margueritte Hickman V. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA The WHZ expansion topic was moved to section"B". VI. BUSINESS A. George McKinley works with the Small Diameter Collaborative (SDQ and has been contracted to complete the Jackson County Integrated Fire Plan (JaCIFP). On his work with the SDC, George is currently operating with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service (USFS) on restoration projects- mostly on Federal Lands, prioritizing restoration activities for the next 20 years. George is also working closely with the Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) Learning Network, to assist communities around the county to learn from each other on strategies and efforts that integrate forest resilience goals and community planning efforts. George is also working on completing the JaCIFP, which the county may create into an updated Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The initial task is to update the risk assessment across both Josephine and Jackson counties. It has been an excellent opportunity to work with BLM and USFS on new data and statistics- collaborating on a new data set. By the end of the project, counties will have a concrete measurement of their"risk" in addition to a model and data to work from. This process will also identify high value resources, which the committee will heavily rely on other networks and organizations to establish (e.g. homes, communication towers, Talent Irrigation District). The items will be ranked in priority and a plan will be created on how to reduce the damage to the assets. George is currently working with students from Portland State University through fire science funding. This group will primarily identify cognitive maps of fuels reduction activities. They have also been approached to use the fire plan network to get a grasp of the communities perception on fuels reduction work. Eventually this would lead to taking steps towards action on the identified items. The group is potentially looking at work starting around 6/2015 and implementing it on 6/2016. FAC and Firewise could potentially be part of this work. Ashland Fire & Rescue has 18k to spend towards Ashland's updated CWPP. Ashland is considering using the Jackson and Josephine counties risk assessment data- then tailor it to Ashland to create a priorities list (i.e. fuels data on the interface, plant type, fuels models, housing- and social component (the WMC commission may want to take over this section)). AF&R will assist in giving Ashland specific data to Jackson County to see if both data batches are aligned. When this is done, the WMC will outline a scope of work before the process starts. A motion was moved by Stephen Gagne to improve collaboration with the Jackson County Integrated Fire Plan (JcC1FP),- and to use their county-wide database assessment to assist in updating the Ashland CWPP. Ashland will also financially contribute monies to create Ashland specific findings, as well as release information such as AFR, infrastructure data, etc. (The motion carried unanimously). B. Margueritte Hickman discussed the progress on the WHZ expansion. Margueritte Hickman, Chris Chambers and Ashland Lara recently met with Brandon from the City Planning Department. Brandon has been a great resource and has been supportive in working through code language issues and has created a timeline. The committee originally intended to implement the current WHZ restrictions; however, there were more changes made to make it more user-friendly. The code will now have pictures and diagrams to illustrate specific guidelines. The expansion is hoped to be implemented in July, 2015. Once Brandon is done editing the draft, the commission will be able to give their thoughts on the language. C. The WMC is looking at reworking the FAC image to fit Ashland's specific needs. It is a great toot to visually show the public to see what all is involved in the process. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS No update VIII. REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING A. Next meeting February 11 , 2015 IX. ADJOURN: 1:00 PM In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting,please contact the Public Works Office at 488-5587 (TTYphone number 1 800 735 2900). Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting(28 CFR 35102-35104 ADA Title I).