![]() “We’re just doing our best to educate and get the resources to people.” “We’re not fining people if they haven’t done the work,” he said. So, too, did the state’s soft approach to enforcement. Oregon is known for heavy public involvement in community issues, which helped build support, he said. McCauley, with the League of Oregon Cities, admits that passing state-level requirements is a complicated process. “We also work with emergency response teams to get volunteers out in the community to help residents who can’t move plants, for instance, or replace their grass with rocks.” “City leaders should know their wildfire risk and give the public steps to make their homes more defensible,” she said. ![]() To get there, said Enclade, education is key. So, we advocate for community-based, whole-picture defensible space.” ![]() “And if you build a perfectly defensible space in one home, and the next-door neighbor doesn’t, you are still vulnerable. “There are a lot of emotions tied to why people don’t want to take the steps to mitigate risk,” she said. Natalie Enclade, executive director at BuildStrong Coalition, a group of firefighters, insurers, engineers, architects and other stakeholders, said that getting buy-in for better building codes and mitigation funding is a struggle. This is a common issue many states run into, especially in the West. Some private property owners felt the state was overstepping and infringing on their property rights.” “The reception from the public was mixed. “We put together a task force to identify areas at risk and then used national guidelines to establish codes for fire-hardened homes with defensible zones,” McCauley said. In 2021, following a series of wildfires, Oregon passed SB 762, which established a framework for wildfire policy in the state. “But we couldn’t afford the price tag of going with a custom builder because there was a huge gap between the insurance and the build cost.”Ĭost is just one piece of the equation when attempting to get community buy-in for wildfire-resistant building codes, said Jim McCauley, legislative director for the League of Oregon Cities. “If I had an endless supply of money, for sure I would like to have the most fireproof house possible, along with a stone wall surrounding my property,” said Emily Thompson. The cost is what prevented the Thompson family from rebuilding with fire-resistant materials after losing their home in the Marshall fire. She added that “we are sensitive to the costs of implementing such codes and will be flexible in terms of how communities roll them out.” “We listened to the fire professionals and other experts in crafting the legislation because they know more than anyone what such codes should look like,” said Sen. That event served as something of an impetus for the Colorado state legislature to pass a law in May that will establish wildfire-resistant building codes. The 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder burned over 1,000 homes, for example. Like California, Colorado has experienced some of its most devastating wildfires over the past few years. When combined with home hardening, these tactics greatly increase the odds of a structure surviving a wildfire. It also requires defensible space in the 100 feet surrounding a home as a buffer between a building and grass, trees, shrubs and other landscaping. For instance, California’s fire-safe building code, known as Chapter 7A, covers roofing materials, windows, eaves, vents, decks and more. But such codes can be unpopular with homeowners and developers alike, leaving city managers in a tough spot.įire-resistant building codes address not just the materials and methods of construction but surrounding “defense zones” as well. ![]() The case for fire-resistant building codes is strong, and as climate change drives increasingly intense, frequent wildfires - especially in the western United States - more communities are considering them.
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