Two central pieces of Senate Bill 762, the 2021 omnibus wildfire bill, the establishment of the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and the development of a wildfire risk map, are coming to fruition this month.
The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) led rulemaking advisory committees to determine the WUI definition, develop criteria to establish the WUI boundary, and guide the development of the statewide wildfire risk map. Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) staff was among the broad group of representatives from local government, fire and emergency management, and other stakeholders on the rules advisory committee. Draft rules were presented to the Board of Forestry in early March, public hearings were held in April, and the final rules package was approved on June 8, 2022.
The wildfire risk map was developed by Oregon State University (OSU) and will be released in the Oregon Wildfire Risk Explorer on Thursday, June 30. The map will assign every property in Oregon to one of five categories of wildfire risk. Properties assigned a high or extreme risk level will carry safety and defensible space requirements. Property owners in the high or extreme risk categories will receive written notification of their classification and information about an appeals process mid-July. SB 762 also directs OSU to note socially and economically vulnerable communities in order to make targeted investments and actions.
In October, the Oregon State Building Codes Division will publish updates to the Oregon residential specialty code and by December 2022 the Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) will adopt a defensible space code. Fire hardening building codes and defensible space regulations will generally apply to properties that are located within the WUI and classified as high or extreme risk.
In addition to informing fire hardening and resiliency regulations, the wildfire risk map will be used to focus investments and grants from programs created under SB 762, many of which are available to counties, and are currently under development. Among these programs, Fire Adapted Oregon, housed under the OSFM, is focused on assisting communities in being better prepared for wildfire through the Community Risk Reduction Unit and the Community Risk Reduction Fund. Investments and grants through OSFM under Response Ready Oregon will add resources and personnel to assist local and rural fire protection districts in response and recovery prior to wildfire events.
Contributed by: Mallorie Roberts | Legislative Director