[news]
Pushing boundaries As Missoula grows, fire risks intensify by Dameon Pesanti
moved to implement firewise zoning in the Double Arrow Ranch south of Seeley Lake, residents fiercely opposed the plan. “We knew that there was a certain fire risk involved with living in the woods,” wrote Double Arrow homeowners William and Roberta Cruce in a July 7 letter to the commissioners, “and we gladly accepted that rather than being forced to live within a city and having all the zoning requirements that goes with it.” Byron Bonney, a forester with Bitterroot Resource Conservation and Development, a nonprofit that works in both Ravalli and Missoula counties to prepare landowners for fire, cautions against such an accepting attitude. He says residents need to understand that it’s not a question of if a fire happens, but when. “Fire’s been here a lot longer than any of us and it’s always going to be here,” he says. “This isn’t natural. We’ve excluded fire and [some landowners] have a huge problem with too many trees per acre.” Photo by Cathrine L. Walters Officials say homeowners tend to ignore the Crews work to contain the Stimson fire near Bonner earlier this week. threat of wildfires because County is home to 350 square miles of po- to create community wildfire protection they don’t feel the costs until after the damtentially developable WUI land—more than plans. That directive, in part, required each age is done to their property. Insurance companies in Montana don’t charge higher any other county in Montana. One group county to have a WUI defined by 2012. says that, unless changes are made with But the intentionally broad language al- premiums in WUI areas, nor do they require how that land is managed, the county could lowed each county to define the area differ- any fire prevention efforts. In some parts of someday face some of the most expensive ently. By the Department of Natural the West, the accountability is shifting. Inwildfires in the state. Resources and Conservation’s own admis- surance companies now require some ColThe Montana Legislature commissioned sion, “WUI delineation resulted in multiple orado homeowners to use firewise Headwaters Economics, based in Bozeman, representations that are inconsistent at the techniques around their homes, and California’s Department of Forestry charges an to study future wildfire risk and state costs state level.” Part of the problem is how Montana’s annual $150-per-structure fee to those living associated with fighting blazes. The group found that federal and state agencies are try- land is divided. Properties inside the WUI in the WUI. For Missoula, the emphasis remains on ing to be proactive by taking preventive are typically comprised of private, municimeasures, and are also picking up the ma- pal, state and federal lands. The National purely preventative measures, working with jority of the tab for firefighting costs, but that Forest Service, DNRC, county, city and rural developers and educating landowners so little is being done at the local level. That fire departments all work collaboratively that property can be protected in the event setup poses a problem as federal budgets when a fire breaks out, but otherwise each of a fire. Chris Lounsbury, director of the is responsible for managing its own section. Missoula County Office of Emergency Manshrink and local development increases. County commissioners wield the most agement, says that right now the onus is en“The feds are cutting down how much they pay for funding across the board— influence at the local level, but most coun- tirely on the residents to take advantage of that’s also happening with fire,” says Head- ties—including Missoula—don’t set zoning the resources. “There’s funding available to help do waters economist Chris Mehl. “I do believe requirements in the WUI. Instead, commison the horizon many local leaders are going sioners offer property owners guidance on that,” he says. “Each community has its own to have more people [in the WUI] but less how to protect their property. The property priorities, but in the WUI the priority needs federal funding than ever before, so they’re owners often don’t want any more than to be defensible space.” those suggestions. For instance, when the going to have to pick up the slack.” dpesanti@missoulanews.com A century of fire suppression, a warming Missoula Board of County Commissioners Last month, 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died trying to stop a wildfire from escaping the forest and swallowing a small subdivision in a suburb outside of Prescott, Ariz. The tragic incident put an increased focus on not only firefighting strategy, but also the preventative measures taken to manage where homes are built and how the surrounding area is protected. The area is known as the wildlandurban interface, or WUI, and Missoula
climate and longer and dryer summers have created dense, fuel-choked forests that make firefighting a difficult and expensive endeavor—and those circumstances don’t appear to be changing. In total, Montana’s 2012 fire season cost $113.5 million, with the state itself paying more than $50 million. According to Headwaters’ research, a third of firefighting costs go into protecting WUI homes. After 2007’s particularly harsh fire season, Montana law required counties
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missoulanews.com • July 25–August 1, 2013 [9]