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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018.02.21 Wildfire Safety Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE MITIGATION COMMISSION Wednesday,February 21, 2018 11:OOAM to 1:OOPM Training Room, Ashland Fire Station#1 455 Siskiyou Blvd I. CALL TO ORDER: II. INTRODUCTIONS III.APPROVAL OF MINUTES: January 17,2018 Minutes will be sent out immediately after the meeting 011ie moves to approve,Bruce 2nd, all in favor. IV. PUBLIC FORUM V.ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA Begin the meeting with the following topics: -Report on the Demonstration trailer -Commissioners' intentions of staying on the Wildfire Commission VI.BUSINESS A. Old Business a. Nixle Update i. Chief D'Orazi met with the Jackson County Emergency Manager to discuss using the Nixle program. The Citizen Alert/Everbridge reverse 911 system that city currently uses has purchased Nixle so we have the capability of using the program. b. Firewise Gardens i. Alison and Tracy met and walked the Siskiyou Blvd areas.Alison will purchase plants and rock mulch and Sage Hill Landscaping will provide the labor. Signage to be determined. ii. A report from Parks will be on the March agenda for creating a Firewise garden at North Mountain Park. c. Firewise Demonstration Trailer i. The quote for the trailer is 95% complete. Doug is soliciting bids from two trailer companies. One company has the option of including multiple color schemes to the outside of the trailer. There is a 6-8 week lead time for both products. Tim, Doug and Alison will meet to brainstorm a list of places and events the trailer can be brought to. Ideas for using the trailer include HOAs, clean up days, Science Works,4th of July, Home Depot Road Show, the Expo, etc. d. Committee Updates: (4 minutes each) i. Plant List Subcommittee • Nothing to add. ii. Wildfire Mitigation Ordinance • Brandon,Roger and Alison met on February loth to incorporate changes to the Draft Ordinance. It is going to a Planning Commission Study Session on February 27th. Alison will send out the draft Ordinance electronically when it is ready. Alison will send out an updated calendar that includes all commission meetings and study sessions. • Before presenting to the Planning Commission,the group needs to create a communication strategy for the overall wildfire reduction strategy that goes beyond new homes and includes all existing structures within the city limits. iii. Smoke Marketing • Chris passed out a new Smoke pamphlet that was produced in with partnership with Asante. The document can be changed to add a different logo for another organization. It is a local resource that can be placed at hotels and SOU. The Good Fire/Bad Fire card was sent out to everyone in Ashland. There are at least 400 more signups for smoke alerts since the card was sent out. The Card and the Pamphlet would be great for the Farmers Market. • Smoke Preparedness for Business workshop was held on February 21 St from 8-10:30am. There were 50 attendees including representative from SOU,Ashland School District, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and other local businesses. iv. Wildfire Task Force(Smoke, Evac/Com, Business Resilience) • The conversation about Evacuation is going to be brought to the top of the list. Chief D'Orazi is hoping to have a more tangible education strategy before wildfire season. • Can there be a discussion about After the Fire needs? Alison will send a link to the Washington After the Fire resources. • Is there any new information from Santa Barbara about rebuilding? Messaging is hard. There is a set of circumstances that a fire cannot be stopped. It would be good as a homeowner to understand what each program/piece helps with. It would be helpful to know what a homeowners obligations are under each of the fire event spectrums, including educating citizens to know what the first thing they need to do. Some ideas include: • A pamphlet: Short Term Planning, Long Term Planning • A Marketing Subcommittee or a Communication Strategy v. Community Wildfire Protection Plan Subcommittee • Chris and Alison are still working on the Risk Assessment. The Wildfire Risk Assessor is about two weeks away from completing the parcel level data for the entire city. Chris is meeting with Marty Main, the City Forester,to get the reassessment of the fuel models that surround the city. Chris and Alison are working with the City GIS department to create the overall risk assessment for the entire city. • The parcel data is an important piece of the risk assessment. Citizens will want this information to be released but the messaging behind the risk data needs to be carefully crafted. We need to separate out the risk factors that people can change and things that people cannot change. • We need to bring more stakeholders to the table: • Insurance Agencies • Local Realtors • Homeless/Transient working groups -Can we talk with the Housing/Human Safety. 011ie will get Alison contact information. • We need to plant the seed of public safety to the current homeless population before the population skyrockets during the warmer months. • Can we merge the ideas of this Commission with the Housing and Human Services 2 Commission? • Alison will connect with Ryan in Yakima, WA. Chris will ask Pracilla from Mt. Shasta. • Illegal camping is still a huge issue and needs to have a large part in the CWPP. An idea is for Ashland Fire &Rescue to talk to the people using the warming shelters about the safe use of fire during fire season. vi. Farmer's Market • Farmers market opens in March. Doug will be talking to Mary Ellen about having a more elevated sign. Doug and Alison will start tabling in late April. • Doug talked to Christie at Shooting Star Nursery about creating a Firewise garden at their location that focuses on rock scape varieties. They were receptive to the idea with the 0-5 ft area as the main focus. vii.Firewise Update • Alison has another Firewise USA assessment scheduled for March 5'. That will bring the number of Firewise USA neighborhoods in Ashland to 30. viii. AFR Update • Today is a burn day. The partners will continue taking advantage of burn days with this precipitation. Open burning starts March 1 St which will provide more opportunities to burn piles. Crews are still working in the watershed creating new piles. B. New Business a. FEMA Grant Timeline and Presentation i. Alison provided a fact sheet from the 2017 webinar on Hazard Mitigation Grants. She will meet with Project Wildfire and Deschutes County before the next Commission meeting and have a presentation in March. b. Meeting Report from WaterWise/Firewise/Planning i. 011ie, Alison and Julie met and combed through numerous codes to find conflicts in different landscaping ordinances. A follow up meeting including City Planning will be scheduled in the next week. ii. 011ie is interested in developing a bark replacement programs similar to the existing lawn replacement program in Water Consecration. c. Discuss commissioner's intentions to remain on WMC and update terms. (Project the table below from the website) i. Tim will email the City Recorder to update the Commission Member list, adding 011ie and Tonya's information and survey member's expiring terms. d. Discussion—and scheduling—on attending other city commission meetings. i. Tree Commission: Tracy ii. CEAP Ad Hoc Committee: Tonya iii. Forest Lands Commission: 011ie C. Parking Lot Issues a. Branding the WMC b. Wildfire Commission Collateral c. Commission Communication VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS 011ie would like to revisit the time of the Wildfire Mitigation Commission meetings. VIII.REVIEW AND SET COMMISSION CALENDAR/NEXT MEETING 3 A. Mayors Brown Bag Lunch: February 23, 2018, 12:00pm(CommDev) B. Wildfire Task Force: March 7, 2018, 10:30am(Station 1) C. WMO Meeting: TBD (Station 1) D. Next WMC Meeting: March 21,2018, 11:00am(Station 1) E. WMC presentation to City Council: May IX. ACTION ITEMS Alison will email the draft Wildfire Ordinance when it is ready. Alison will send out an updated schedule for the Wildfire Ordinance including all commission meetings and study sessions. 011ie will get Alison the contact information from the homeless working group. Alison will contact the Housing and Human Services Commission after talking with the homeless working group. Waterwise/Firewise/Planning follow up meeting needs to be scheduled. Doug will talk to the Director of the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market about having a more visible sign Tim will email the City Recorder with updates to the Commission Members X. AGENDA ITEMS FOR March 21, 2018 A. Strategy for using the Fire Resistant Demonstration Trailer(30 minutes during the 2nd half of the meeting) B. Communication Strategy for the Wildfire Mitigation Ordinance/Fire Adapted Ashland C. FEMA Grant D. Commission meeting time E. WMO Presentation to the City Council (Council Chambers) XI.ADJOURN: 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 35.102-35.104 ADA Title I). 4