Showers this morning becoming a steady rain during the afternoon hours. High 52F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..
Tonight
A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 46F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
HOOD RIVER — After the 2020 wildfire season, Senate Bill 762 was passed by state legislature to create additional programs, jobs, and funding for wildfire prevention and resilience. Counties at risk of wildfire, such as Hood River, received support from that bill in various forms for education, prevention, and resilience campaigns.
Fire Risk Reduction Specialist Simone Cordery-Cotter updated the Hood River Board of Commissioners at their October meeting, namely detailing ways Senate Bill 762 have been invested in the county via Oregon State Fire Marshal.
More than $100,000 has been given to the Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District for chipping days during the last two years. “Just because some people are unable to do their defensible space work doesn’t mean they should be left out,” Cordery-Cotter said.
They have also given the county two new Type III Wildland fire trucks and have invested more than $1.5 million into the county’s fire district for staffing and other grants. Cordery-Cotter mentioned education efforts like brochures about responding to smoke and becoming “firewise” communities.
Governor Kate Brown signs Senate Bill 762.
Contributed photo
She also mentioned other prevention projects: Replacing wires in Mosier to reduce spark risk and putting at least three fire-danger signs in each district to show the daily wildfire risk.
Senate Bill 762 created wildfire specialist positions like Cordery-Cotters’; it also requires wildfire risk mapping with help from the Oregon Department of Forestry. The first draft of the map was presented to the County in June 2020 but many of the GIS findings were inconsistent with local needs like irrigation districts and recently-burned areas.
Considering community engagement and legislative requirements, they are currently editing the wildfire hazard map. Once it is finalized and approved, Cordery-Cotter said the state gives them legal authority to use enforcement capabilities when requirements or hazard prevention are neglected. However, she said they will start with a 2-3 year education campaign once the map is set in place.
“Our plan is not to come out the day after the map takes effect with ticket books in hand … We want people to be nauseated by the amount of time we’ve spent talking to them about these regulations that are going to impact them,” she said.
Nothing can be enforced until the map is approved in a final session, and that won’t be done without community and committee input. Cordery-Cotter encouraged the board of commissioners to be on the lookout for engagement opportunities with the wildfire map. “I would encourage you all to exercise your right as citizens of Oregon and exercise your right in the process,” she said.
Emergency Manager Charles Young also presented updates to the board, and Sheriff Matt English was in attendance as support for both Young and Cordery-Cotter’s updates.
Young explained his department’s goals: Planning for emergencies, mitigation projects like reducing or minimizing hazards, and emergency response and recovery. Mainly he addressed the Community Wildfire Protection Plan and FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP), and mentioned they would need a bigger budget for additional capacity.
Wildfire is already a huge portion of emergency planning in Hood River County, so Young explained that they are adding an appendix to the HMP with wildfire details. This new organization will create a cohesive strategy for the community that FEMA requires to be updated every 5 years.
“We’re tying the two of those together because wildfire is a significant risk to our community,” Young said. Keeping wildfire hazard plans updated alongside the FEMA map opens the county to grants for projects with land resiliency, structure planning, and emergency communication.
The Hood River County Board of Commissioners was appreciative of the emergency and wildfire updates, as many of their committees and personal lives are attentive to wildfire response and mitigation.
Commented