HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020.07.15 Wildfire Safety Commission Minutes MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 11:00AM to 1:00PM Zoom
As the July 15th Wildfire Safety Commission(WSC)will be held electronically, any public forum testimony is to be
submitted in writing by members of the public by 10AM the day before the scheduled meeting. Staff will compile all
written testimony into one document and send the document to the Commission members and post the testimony on the
agenda the day before the meeting after 10AM. The written testimony will also be included in the minutes.
Members of the public are welcome to listen or view the Wildfire Safety Commission meeting live. Please contact
katie. ig bblegashland.or.us if you would like to listen to this meeting live.
Meeting protocol via Zoom: raise hand to chime in and Stephen or Katie will facilitate when you can begin speaking
I. CALL TO ORDER
A. Dan Dawson, Kent Romney, Steve Asher, Charisse Sydoriak,Bruce Moat, Kent Romney, Chris
Chambers, Katie Gibble, Stephen Gagne. Public: Paul Collins
II. INTRODUCTIONS
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. June Minutes, approved by all
IV. PUBLIC AND GUEST FORUM
A. See public testimony from Craig McDonald at end of Agenda
1. Craig McDonald's written testimony is read aloud(attached to July WSC Agenda and included at
end of these minutes)
2. Chief Shepherd's response to Craig McDonald's public testimony is read aloud(included at end
of these minutes)
3. Charisse recommends a summary of what was learned from the mock evacuation plan and
requests information on how we train police officers to manage evacuations
a) Chris will request a summary from Chief Shepherd
4. Chris Chambers described past efforts to develop an evacuation plan in 2004. Within past 5-6
years,Ready, Set, Go! was a adopted as the evacuation strategy for the City. Information available at
https://www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavlD=13512
V. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA
A. None
VI. CITY COUNCIL CHECK-IN
A. Tonya not present
VII. OLD BUSINESS
A. Working Group Check-ins *action items will be marked in bold
1. Real Estate Engagement Program(SG, KG)
a) Rogue Valley Association of Realtors will learn next week if they received grant
2. Nuisance Ordinance Expansion(DD, CS, CC, KG)
MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday,July 15th,2020 11:00AM to 1:00PM Zoom
a) No update
3. Home Inspector Capacity-building(Kent)
a) Could we open realtor training to volunteers, and offer to people beyond trained
inspectors?
b) Stephen suggested that volunteers could help perform assessments
c) Kent describes that there are two different types of assessments: on-demand real estate
inspection, and follow-up with re-assessments to increase the capacity of city staff
d) Stephen suggests an apprenticeship requirement where they have to shadow Katie at
first, and Katie provides feedback after those shadowing sessions
e) Discussion around the complexity of volunteers.
(1) Issue of city staff capacity is important
(2) Issue of liability on City volunteers as home assessors may arise. Word of these
volunteers may be difference of home burning down vs.not burning down.
(3) It is suggested that the City Attorney provide that assessment of liability.
(a) Chris will ask City Attorney about liability issues
(4) Managing volunteers takes time, further stretching the capacity of staff.
0 Steve suggests we provide aself-assessment tool that a homeowner can use to evaluate
their own home to relieve some of the staff demand
(1) Dan describes how the new web portal that went live last week(MyHome Portal)
provides that checklist
4. FAC Expansion/integration(KG,KR, CS, DK)
a) No report
5. Spring Wildfire Preparedness Campaign(KG,KR, CS,DK)
a) Katie acquired summary statistics for visitation to 3 Month Campaign webpage.
Displayed at end of this report
6. IntterralWiRe Program rollout(DD, BM, KG, KR)
a) Continue to advertise the Portal by providing information in utility billing
b) Dan asks if research team can study the frequency of site visits relative to the score
category that they received on their postcard in the mail—Katie affirms that this is something that
the research group can track.
7. Nursery/Landscaper Education(CS, KG)
a) No report
8. Fire-Safe Business License Program for Landscapers and Contractors (KG, SG)
a) No report
MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday,July 15th, 2020 11:00AM to 1:00PM Zoom
9. New Building Code Adoption advocacy(KG, SG)
a) Chris has reached out to Ralph about re-initiating this process, COVID may influence
capacity of staff to address the issue.
10. Consistent messaging by all departments (CS, KR)
a) No report
11. Identify Alternative Funding Sources(KR, KG)
a) No report
12. City Finances(SG)
a) No report
13. Electric Utility Risk Assessment(SA)
a) Steve—talked with Lorelei (Pacific Power.) Trees Inc will be the company doing tree
work along the power lines near the City.Notes that providing notification to homeowner is
extremely important,because the landowners and tree contractor can work together. This
communication is currently lacking in Steve's eyes,but would help significantly with getting the
work done well.
b) Lorelei will provide Steve with information on how Pacific Power prioritizes work under
power lines
c) Stephen suggests that we have follow-up with Lorelei(Pacific Power)on work for
powerlines in a future meeting
14. Illegal Camping Ignition Sources (KG, CC)
a) Chris reports that 6-7 drone flights have found nothing so far this season. It would appear
that no one is camping in the lower watershed right now. Chris speculates that word must be
getting out about not camping in the watershed.
b) Patrol flights are made at random
B. Farmer's Market
1. Sign is being posted at Market weekly
C. State Farm Wildfire Insurance
1. Stephen posits that the program offering wildfire protection is more of a pilot program,rather
than something being employed anywhere close to a wildfire. Local State Farm agent has no information
about the program, and higher-ups do not want to talk about it to the public
D. OLLI Disaster Preparedness Class 2/24/20
L Charisse and Doug made presentation for class who on how to prepare for catastrophic events.
They presented on Spring Campaign material. Charisse saw this as opportunity for members of the
commission to educate the public on preparing for wildfire.
VIIL NEW BUSINESS
A. Ember Storm Awareness(Stephen)
MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 11:00AM to 1:OOPM Zoom
1. Ignition potential by embers,not covered by Firewise or standard home assessment. Is there
somebody who is an expert on ember behavior that could be tapped in the community for residents who
have those questions. Perhaps having a presentation on ember storms would get residents interested
2. Charisse Taking class at SOU Extensions—mitigation specialist, showed several videos on how
homes burn and how they ignite. Charisse will get contact information for this new person.
3. Kent has experienced that annual fire refreshers include videos of how embers may impact a
structure. Can extrapolate how this may impact your own home.
B. Updates from Oregon Shakespeare Festival
1. No report
C. DEQ Grant
1. Program is currently being implemented. Katie requested potential participation by someone in
Wildfire Safety Commission to represent the Commission in meetings.
D. Homeland Security Grant for evacuation planning
1. Already covered
E. Award for Commissioners—continued conversation
1. Discussed how Tonya had suggested taking this idea to council to develop award at higher level
IX. REPORTS AS TIME ALLOWS
A. Forest Lands Commission Report
1. Charisse volunteered to attend
B. Tree Commission
1. Katie will check if they are meeting again
C. Chamber Wildfire Task Force
1. Stephen requests that Katie send more info to group regarding the DEQ grant meetings, and what
to expect
D. Drone Detection Program
1. Already covered under illegal camping
X. NEXT MEETING
A. Wednesday,August 19th, 11:OOAM-1 PM, Zoom
XI. ADJOURN
MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 11:00AM to 1:00PM Zoom
Craig McDonald
Dear Commission Members. These comments were initially submitted via your website for consideration at the June 17'
meeting. Technical issues prevented the comments from being forwarded to Katie Gibble,with whom I have been
emailing, and thus not included in the June agenda. Please consider them now and respond. Thank you, Craig McDonald
I have taken all the wildfire safety precautions recommended by the CITY: NIXLE, Firewise, Go Bag, 3 CERT
meetings, etc. But the Evacuation Plan promised in the Fall of 2018, whose purpose was to prevent a repeat of the
Paradise tragedy, has not been provided. I am advised by Emily Matlock, Administrative Analyst at Ashland Fire&
Rescue,that several months ago the City used a grant from the State of Oregon to contract with a firm to do a study to
develop the Plan. Ms. Matlock now advises that the Plan will not be completed until the end of August. Thus, Ashland
will endure a 2nd fire season without a Paradise-prevention plan. I am requesting that the Commission investigate why
this has taken so long, determine whether the taxpayers are getting their money's worth from these contractors holding
themselves out to be experts, and report the status of the Plan to the public. The City did do a limited evacuation exercise
last Fall,but that was a full year after the development of a Plan was announced and did not result in any new advice for
citizens on how to evacuate quickly and safely. Thank you, Craig McDonald
Chief Shepherd Response to Craig McDonald public testimony
The City of Ashland received a State Homeland Security Grant for$40,000 to perform an evacuation study. RFPs were
evaluated and a company called KLD Engineering was selected. After a COVID related delay, KLD is holding their kick-
off meeting with the City next Monday, July 20'. KLD will:
• Meet with local stakeholders
• Conduct an"on-site"evaluation of the City and its roadways
• Conduct a demographic survey
• Review existing plans
• Identify Impaired neighborhoods
• Identify evacuation zones and regions
• Identify demographic shifts related to tourism and college
• Perform fuel load and weather modeling
• Compute evacuation times based on different scenarios
• Complete a technical report
We should be done by the end of September.
Let me know if you need further info. Thanks,
David Shepherd, Fire Chief
MINUTES FOR A MEETING OF THE WILDFIRE SAFETY COMMISSION
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 1 1:00AM to 1:00PM Zoom
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