Fire fears & state laws: Oregon's new approach worries some rural property owners

Aug. 3—Wes Morgan is an enthusiastic supporter of the effort to protect Oregon's rural homes from wildfire.

His own, for instance.

Morgan, who is chief of the Powder River Rural Fire Protection District, an all-volunteer agency with a station just outside Sumpter, has endeavored to reduce the risk of fire on his property among the ponderosa pines of Sumpter Valley.

He maintains a lush green lawn as an effective fire break.

He prunes the pines to deprive the trees of a ladder that flames could climb into the combustible crowns.

He stacks his firewood a safe distance from his home and makes sure needles and other tinder don't accumulate on his roof.

Yet for all that, Morgan is troubled by the prospect of the state compelling property owners, possibly including some of his neighbors, to take similar precautions under penalty of law.

"There are a lot of people that need to do something" to protect their properties, Morgan said.

"But I have mixed feelings."

His ambivalence stems from a law the Oregon Legislature passed in 2021.

Senate Bill 762 requires, among other things, that the state create a map that shows a wildfire danger level for each of Oregon's 1.8 million tax lots.

That map, which the Oregon Department of Forestry recently released as a collaboration with Oregon State University, also shows the boundaries for what's known as the wildland-urban interfact — WUI — areas with homes that are within or near forests or rangelands where wildfires are more likely.

Senate Bill 762 requires the risk level be based on the local weather, climate, topography and vegetation, the latter criterion determined by aerial data. Property owners can appeal the classification if they believe it's improper.

Properties that are both within the WUI, and that have a wildfire risk rating of either high or extreme (on a five-level scale that also includes no risk, low and moderate risks) could be required, under Senate Bill 762, to create the same sort of defensible space that Morgan has around his home.

Such property owners might also have to comply with changes in building codes.

Morgan isn't comfortable with the state mandating the kinds of work he undertook on his property.

But he's even more troubled by the process the Department of Forestry has used.

In July the agency mailed letters to 250,000 to 300,000 property owners whose land has a wildfire risk rating of high or extreme, and whether, as in Morgan's case, the lot is also within the WUI.

Morgan's letter is dated July 21.

"I think this letter caught a lot of us off guard, including me," Morgan said on Tuesday, Aug. 2. "I think the state got the cart before the horse."

He cites the letter itself. It reads, in part: "You may be required to take actions to create defensible space around your home and adhere to changes to building code requirements. Both of these regulatory processes are still in development."

The problem, in Morgan's view, is that he and tens of thousands of other property owners are left to wonder what they might be required to do, and when.

According to the Forestry Department, the Oregon State Fire Marshal is working on the defensible space requirements. The agency is slated to adopt those in December 2022, and take effect in 2023.

The state Building Codes Division is responsible for the building code requirements mentioned in the letter to property owners.

The agency is scheduled to adopt codes Oct. 1, 2022, and those will take effect April 1, 2023.

Sumpter the most heavily affected part of Baker CountyOn the Forestry Department's new map — www.oregon.gov/odf/fire/pages/wildfire-risk.aspx — Sumpter stands out among Baker County communities.

The entire community, which has about 212 residents and 500 homes, is both within the WUI and has a wildfire risk rating of either high or extreme. Sumper is, in effect, a town within a second-growth ponderosa pine forest.

Kurt Clarke, chief of the volunteer Sumpter Fire Department, said as far as he can tell, every Sumpter property owner got a version of the letter that Morgan received.

Clarke said he's talked with a few residents who wonder whether, or how, the pending regulations under Senate 762 will affect them.

Others, he said, worry that their homeowner insurance policies could be canceled because, based on the map, their homes are in a high or extreme fire risk area. (Most of the city's tax lots are rated as high risk, with some scattered lots in the extreme category.)

Like Morgan, Clarke promotes defensible space tactics such as pruning trees and clearing the ground of needles and limbs.

He said the fire department and city officials encourage residents to take such precautions. Clarke believes Sumpter has made progress over the years.

The city allows residents to bring yard debris to a city property where it can be safely burned, Clarke said.

"My citizens, I've got to say, are very fire savvy," he said.

Still and all, Clarke said he believes it can be hard for some property owners to truly understood how devastating a wildfire can be if they haven't personally experienced a catastrophe such as what befell Paradise, California, in 2018, or another Northern California town, Greenville, in 2021.

The Camp fire destroyed 19,000 buildings and killed 85 people in Paradise. The Dixie fire burned most of the homes and other buildings in Greenville, although there were no deaths.

"Some people don't think it's going to happen," Clarke said.

Elsewhere in Baker CountyOther than Sumpter, the biggest area in Baker County with properties that are within the WUI and have a fire rating risk of high or extreme is on the west side of Baker Valley.

This includes neighborhoods along and near Pine, Mill, Marble, Salmon and Goodrich creeks, and in parts of Washington Gulch.

In addition, there are multiple properties along the base of the sagebrush foothill just southwest of Baker City that meet both criteria.

Other places with scattered parcels that could be affected by Senate Bill 762 include:

—Unity

—Old Auburn Lane

—Stices Gulch near Dooley Mountain Highway

—Rock Creek and Bulger Flat west of Haines

—Along Highway 7 near Denny Creek

—Western and eastern fringes of Pine Valley

—East Eagle Creek

—Cornucopia

Others concerned about potential effectsMorgan's concerns about Senate Bill 762 are far from rare.

The Forestry Department received about twice as many public comments opposed to the wildfire risk mapping than in favor, mainly from people who believe the WUI areas are too large, said Tim Holschbach, the agency's fire prevention and policy manager.

Mike Shaw, chief of the Forestry Department's fire protection division, said the agency will be in a "fish bowl" of scrutiny due to Senate Bill 762 and its potential effects.

"The agency's work is not done. The work will continue through this year. We know we're not going to be perfect," Shaw said. "There will be adjustments in the future. This is a great first step."

The Oregon Farm Bureau has been one of the more vocal groups concerned about the effects of the wildfire risk map and the WUI boundaries.

The Farm Bureau criticized Senate Bill 762 for its" top-down" approach to reducing the wildfire risk in rural areas.

The number of properties both within the WUI and with a wildfire risk rating of high or extreme is smaller than the Farm Bureau anticipated, however.

According to the Forestry Department, about 120,276 tax lots — 8% of the state's total — meet both of those criteria, but about 80,000 of those have a home or other structure that might be subject to the defensible space or building code regulations.

Barns and other outbuildings are excempt from the requirements.

However, Lauren Smith, the Farm Bureau's director of government and national affairs, said she's concerned that the state might end that exemption in the future.

"We're always going to be uncomfortable because we will have properties that fall into that high and extreme risk WUI," Smith said.

Threat leads to cancellation of public meetingThe Forestry Department scheduled a series of five community meetings to explain the purpose behind the new map and risk ratings.

The first meeting, set for July 26 in Grants Pass, was canceled after the Forestry Department received a phone message "threatening violence," said Derek Gasperini, the agency's public affairs officer.

The only meeting in Eastern Oregon took place Tuesday evening, Aug. 2, at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

Mateusz Perkowski of the Capital Press contributed to this story.