To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Thru: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Norris W. Croom III, Fire Chief
Title
Resolution Approving and Adopting the Town of Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department 2022 Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department (CRFD) has been an internationally accredited agency through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) since 2012. As an all hazards agency, the department is responsible for all aspects of wildland fire, to include planning, mitigation, and response.
As part of this responsibility, the department began working on developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) in 2016. Through a series of challenges, the development of the plan was tabled until late 2020. At that time, the original contractor (Anchor Point) was re-engaged to update the initial draft, and this was completed over the course of 2021. This was done as a collaborative effort involving numerous town departments, Douglas County, and the Colorado State Forest Service.
To quote, “This Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) provides a comprehensive, scientifically based, analysis of wildfire-related hazards and risks in the Town of Castle Rock Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) area. The analysis strives to follow the standards for CWPPs that have been established by the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) and the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS).
This report is the result of an area-wide fire protection planning effort that includes extensive field data, a compilation of existing documents and a scientific analysis of the fire behavior potential of the study area.
This CWPP provides an analysis of mitigation strategy and tactics designed to protect Values at Risk on which a significant wildfire would have an impact. These values include life safety, homes and other property, infrastructure, recreation, lifestyle, local economic and environmental resources.
Recommendations for mitigation efforts address five broad categories including: public education, structural ignitability/the home ignition zone, water supply, access/evacuation, and fuels management. Recommendations in this CWPP should be brought to the local community involved with the project to ensure the project is valuable and viable for the area. Additional projects are also encouraged; especially as previous recommendations are completed.
The density of homes and scattered land ownership provide opportunity for successful collaboration/partnership for risk reduction projects across communities. Town officials are committed to working closely with residents to identify and support risk reduction activities, protecting life and property and enhancing life safety in Castle Rock. Wildfire preparedness and hazardous fuels reduction activities are a shared responsibility across the study area.”
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Outreach to the community was accomplished during the initial development in 2016, and then again in 2021. Additional information was obtained from the Town’s community surveys. The plan has also been reviewed by Douglas County and the Colorado State Forest Service, both of which are requirements to adopting and implementing this plan.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
The Public Safety Commission was provided the plan for review, and no additional comments were received.
Discussion
The Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department (CRFD) has been an internationally accredited agency through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) since 2012. As an all hazards agency, the department is responsible for all aspects of wildland fire, to include planning, mitigation, and response.
As part of this responsibility, the department began working on developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) in 2016. Through a series of challenges, the development of the plan was tabled until late 2020. At that time, the original contractor (Anchor Point) was re-engaged to update the initial draft, and this was completed over the course of 2021. This was done as a collaborative effort involving numerous town departments, Douglas County, and the Colorado State Forest Service.
As stated in the plan, “Generally, the purpose of a CWPP is to refine the priorities for the protection of life, property and critical infrastructure in the wildland urban interface (WUI). Specifically, for the Town of Castle Rock this plan:
1. Provides a scientifically based analysis of wildfire related hazards and risks in the WUI areas within the Town of Castle Rock municipal boundaries.
2. Performs a relative ranking of hazard areas and identifies and prioritizes risk reduction activities to protect life and property and first responders from wildland fire.
3. Supports the continuation and potential expansion of wildfire mitigation efforts currently underway and encourage the continued maintenance of completed projects.
4. Creates a CWPP document that conforms to the standards established by HFRA and CSFS.”
The plan has the following five goals (which are further detailed in the plan):
1. Enhance life safety of residents, visitors, and responders.
2. Mitigate undesirable fire effects to property and infrastructure.
3. Mitigate undesirable fire effects to natural areas.
4. Maintain and enhance existing mitigation efforts.
5. Promote collaborative efforts for outreach and education to the public.
After assessing the town as a whole, it was then broken down into 19 residential hazard zones. Each zone was evaluated and then assigned a hazard risk of either moderate, high, or very high. As a result, two zones were rated as “moderate”, twelve were rated as “high”, and five were rated as “very high”. There are also areas of special interest (ASIs) that include commercial areas, Dawson Ridge, and open space. While there are some hazards associated with these areas, these were not assigned a hazard risk.
Implementing this plan and achieving these goals should further improve the overall safety of the community by reducing the risk associated with wildland fire. It should be noted that these actions will not eliminate the risk as there are many variables associated with wildland fire that are beyond the Town’s control, such as topography, drought, wind, and extreme fire conditions.
The implementation of this plan will require not only Town support, but resident support as well. While the Town has over 3,000 acres of open space, it is estimated that approximately 400 acres directly abuts private property and may need to be mitigated. If the Town begins to work on mitigation of this space but the adjoining private property owners do nothing to their property, then the risk is not necessarily reduced. As stated previously, this plan is a collaborative effort, and all affected parties need to work towards these goals to reduce the overall risk.
There are a number of recommendations in the plan for consideration ranging from public education to planning and building code modifications to mitigation efforts to evacuation planning. Each of these recommendations will be evaluated for complexity and feasibility, and will then be addressed as needed. For example, the Town will not immediately go out and begin mitigating all recommended areas due to budget and staffing constraints. Instead, areas will be assessed to determine where the biggest impact can be made with these limited funds, and then implemented in conjunction with other efforts.
The implementation of this plan is not a “one and done.” The CWPP is a living document that continues to evolve as do the recommendations within it. For example, fuels mitigation has to occur on a regular basis, maybe every couple of years, in order to maintain reduced risk. Public education will be a constant, ongoing effort and will change as conditions change. The plan will continue to be updated on a regular basis as the Town continues to grow and develop.
Even though a formal plan has not been in effect, the department has worked on wildland mitigation and education in the past. We currently have materials available for residents and HOAs on best practices with mitigation, site development plans are reviewed for wildland hazards and then are noted to be addressed as part of that process, and we have worked with local HOAs on mitigation on HOA owned property. For example, we worked with the then Woodlands/Escavera Metro District to create a demonstration project in “The Bowl” quite a few years ago.
The department has also conducted some minimal mitigation on town open space as seen with the “Tract K” project, located south of Highway 86 and east of Ridge Road, in late 2020, the Escavera project, located along Black Pine Drive, that is currently being finished, and on the Santa Fe Quarry, located in the Meadows, to perform fuel reduction in the fallout zone for the fireworks shows. Parks and Recreation performs a significant amount of mowing each year in an attempt to reduce the hazard, and they have worked with the fire department to ensure that both hard and soft surface trails are built, where possible, to accommodate our brush trucks for fire response into the open space.
Therefore, adoption of this plan will formalize and guide the Town’s efforts towards wildfire protection, mitigation, and response.
Budget Impact
While there are no direct costs to the formal adoption of this plan, there are expected costs, subject to future budget approval, based on the recommendations in the plan.
The most significant expected cost is for wildland mitigation of town owned space. Based on a GIS analysis, the Town owns approximately 400 acres of property that directly abuts private property and should be considered for mitigation efforts. Costs for mitigation can vary widely depending on the type of work to be performed, but the general cost estimate is approximately $5,000.00/acre. Thus, the cost just for mitigation is approximately $2,000,000.00 to treat all affected areas. While this is not necessarily an annual cost, it is an ongoing cost that will require dedicated funding.
There will also be associated costs with public education and outreach, plan maintenance and updates, and some of the additional recommendations, and it is expected that these costs will total approximately $50,000.00 a year to start. As the efforts increase within the Town, these costs could increase depending on the amount of work involved. And, at this time, there are no additional staff positions being requested to implement the plan. However, this too could change as the plan moves forward and efforts within the Town increase towards achieving the stated goals.
By adopting this plan, the Town will become eligible to apply for state and federal grant funding to assist with public education and mitigation efforts, and the intent is to pursue any funding streams that may be used to help offset any direct town costs.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of the resolution to adopt the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the resolution as introduced by title.”
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Attachment B: Power Point