Firefighting plan targets Whale Rock and Redstone

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Still haven't built that defensible space around the mountain home? The concept has been preached for years, but a new firefighting plan could have more folks listening to the sermon.

The plan will actually grade properties on their fire-readiness, and homes that are in good shape could be the first to be defended in case of a wildfire.

Poudre Fire Authority is implementing a new, high-tech approach for improving fire safety in the wildland/urban interface area. The plan relies heavily on homeowners' responsibility to make their properties as fireproof as possible.

PFA will work to identify risks in given areas, educate homeowners about mitigating those risks, and then create pre-fire plans that assign risk levels for every property within the area. The two areas that are targeted for implementation this year are Whale Rock up Rist Canyon and Redstone Canyon northwest of Masonville. The Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department is also participating in the project.

In essence, the new plan is a response to the cost of fighting fires in wildland/urban interface areas as well as the loss of property and lives from those fires. It was developed by PFA firefighter Geoff Butler over the last couple of years.

Two trends have made the wildland fire problem worse in recent years, according to Sean Jones, PFA's wildland team coodinator: the build-up of fuels because of fire suppression, and the increase in the number of homes built in wildland/urban interface areas along the Front Range. He noted that 22 percent of PFA's district has been identified as being in urban interface areas.

The ultimate goal of CWPP, Jones said, is to make properties safer and to make PFA's response to wildfires more efficient. Individual homeowners must still decide whether to make fire-wise improvements to their properties.

"This is not an enforcement thing in any way," said Jones, but rather a matter of doing assessments and making recommendations. "We can't do this ourselves, especially since a lot of it is private property."

An integral part of the CWPP program is software called RedZone, which was developed in Boulder and is being used by fire departments across the country. PFA currently has only one computer with RedZone installed, at Station 7 in LaPorte. Eventually, Jones said, the software will be on board all PFA fire engines and will be used en route to fires.

This is the second year of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Jones said. Last year, PFA met with homeowners and forest agencies to identify major problems and discuss how to address them.

This summer, PFA will gather information in Whale Rock and Redstone Canyon to feed into the new computerized system. Two-person crews will be dispatched to each home to collect data related to fire risk, including the type of shingles used and the amount of clearance around the home. When all the information has been entered, the software will generate maps of the areas. Each home will be marked on the map in a specific color, based on the risk level of the property.

Three types of homes will be identified: those that do not have a good chance of surviving a wildfire even with intervention; those that would likely survive with some intervention from firefighters; and those that would likely survive with no intervention.

Priorities set

The homes in the second category would be defended first in case of a fire, Jones said. "It will help prioritize our work in advance, similar to a triage system" he noted. "The idea is to do the most good with the resources we have."

Nonetheless, Jones added, firefighters will continue to try to defend all homes when possible.

Homes that do not stand a good chance of survival will be marked in red on the map. Those requiring intervention will be in yellow, while homes that can likely survive independently will be in green.

PFA hopes to begin contacting property owners this month to assess homes for fire risk. Homeowners who like the idea of being green or yellow, rather than red, can get ideas from PFA about how to improve their properties for withstanding wildfires.

Whale Rock and Redstone Canyon are "the start of a much bigger program," Jones said. Other urban interface areas within PFA's boundaries include the north and south ends of Horsetooth Reservoir, which will be addressed in coming years.

More information about the Community Wildfire Protection Plan can be found on PFA's web site, www.poudre-fire.org/about/pdf/pfaCWPP.pdf.