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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWildfire Protection Plan Comm Yellowstone County Community Wildfire Protection Plan Working Group Committee Meeting September 15th, 2005 Tera King of Northwest Management, Inc. began the meeting by making introductions and passing around a sign in sheet. There were several housekeeping items on the agenda before the committee broke into working groups. The public survey has been modified and will be mailed by September 20t~. There has also been several edits to the community assessments, which have been incorporated to date. Comments and edits on the assessments can still be sent to Tera at Northwest Management, Inc. There ha~q been some response by the fire departments on the Resources and Capabilities surveys, but Tern will begin calling departments who have not sent there's in next week. Public meeting dates were proposed for the week of October 3'a - 6th with the following schedule. Date Target Community Tentative Location Time October 3 Laurel Laurel Fire Hall 7 pm October 4 Billings Commissioner's Office 9 am (televised) October 4 Huntley/Worden/ Worden Elementary 7 pm Shepherd/Custer Cafeteria October 5 Broadview Broadview Community 7 pm Center October 6 Lockwood/Blue Lockwood School 7 pm Creek/Emerald Hills The final item on the agenda was a short presentation by Bill Schlosser of NMI explaining the features of the newly developed wall maps. Maps covered were: ownership, past fire history, historic fire regime, fire regime condition class, current fire severity, fire prone landscapes, wildland-urban interface, fire service areas, and topographic relief. During the discussion, it was pointed out that the past fire history for the county was limited. Jim Kraft mentioned that it would be beneficial to take the map to the Rural Fire Districts meeting next Tuesday. Bill will send the information to Annette Cabrera, County GIS Department, who will make maps for this purpose. After this discussion and question period, the committee broke into four groups focused on different areas of Yellowstone County. The goal of the groups was to identify hazardous areas, outline pmjeets, and discuss the components of the significant infrastructure throughout the County. One topic that came up fi'equently was the role of the County's fire departments and their needs. The following notes were compiled l~om the each group's notes. Broadview Group- Communications - need a repeater closer to the Bmadview community There is a need to require new subdivisions to install water resources for fire suppression, i.e. dry hydrants, storage tanks, etc. · Minimum road width standards are believed to be adequate across the County Buffalo Trail Area - Main County road is adequate. Most private roads are inaccessible to anything larger than a 1-ton track. There are 100+ homes and structures located in this area, which is characterized by steep canyon walls and wildland vegetation. There are only two ways into this entire subdivision. Clappers Flat Subdivision is in the same situation, which contains 63 homes. · Need a minimum countywide standard on private roads for emergency access. There are numerous areas across the county that are accessed via one-way in, one- way out. · CRP lands - need to be able to treat to help reduce fire potential · Broadview FD #3 does not respond to structural fires. They need to establish structural capabilities; however, there are several limitations; including lack of manpower and volunteers, lack of equipment, no personal protective equipment, and they lack a facility in which to house additional equipment. · LUFSA needs new Type 3 WUI pumper truck, but their communication system is in good condition due to past grant. Communications with State DNRC is good, but a annual meeting would be helpful. · Rural addressing is in progress and going well. · Future issues - water availability and access in outlying subdivisions · Lockwood/Emerald Hills has poor access and water availability Laurel Group - · There is a new substation on northern part of Laurel off Airport Road and a new subdivision northwest of Laurel. · The intersection of Duck Creek Road and River Road has a history of past fire ignitions. There is a lot of new homes within this area. · Clappers Flat - one way in and generally poor roads (inaccessible for standard pumper trucks). People in this area may be resistant to defensible space or other mitigation projects. This area also needs more water resources within the subdivision. Clapper Flats is approximately 7-8 miles from Laurel. Laurel FD needs 4x4 WUI pumper and a 1500-2000 gallon water tender. · Duck Creek Road - there are a lot of new homes in the coulees · Laurel VFD #8 protects the northern tip of Carbon County. There are two tanks in this area · Buffalo Trail - lots of expensive homes in the area. It takes over 20 minutes to get there fi.om Laurel VFD. There are also address and signage issues in this area. · City of Laurel needs an ambulance. · There is a need for roadside fuel mitigation along many of the high risk roads. · Education/Awareness - need training of the public ofwildfi.re issues through the Fire Marshall office. Hunt ley/Shepard/Worden/Cnst er - Pryor Creek Subdivision south ofHuntley - needs funding for dry hydrants and a 10,000 gallon storage tank. · Need river access for dry hydrant near new bridge west of Pompey's Pillar. · Need to install a buffed 10,000 gallon tank at spring on W. Arrow Creek south of Ballantine. · White Buffalo and Shadow Canyon RFD did home-to-home assessments · Shadow Canyon could use fuel reduction project in brushy areas. · Need to put a fire track at Patterson · Need a truck in the north end of district (Wordea). DNRC Type 6 engine could sit at Clair Tempero's farm house. Greater Billings Area - · Lockwood maintains a wildland fire public education program · County/City of Billings has revised their subdivision regulations · Railroads tend to ignite several fires. The interstates also get a lot of ignitions. · Most of the transmission lines throughout the County are on wooden poles; however, the high tension lines are metal. · The BLM recreational pieces along the river may be a source of ignitions; however, this is rare. They would recommend that these areas are kept clean with developed camp sites and fire or barbeque pits. · Billings FD has a regular inspection program for new construction homes that checks for access and wildland fuel issues. · Lockwood 13I) has made a proposal to build a 8-10 bay facility. · Several areas throughout the County have developed Neighborhood Plans, which helps make plans for future development. · The Shepherd FD would like to construct a satellite station in the Hidden Lake subdivision. This would consist ora warm shed with a truck. The Shepherd FD already maintains 7 dry hydrants in the area. · County/City of Billings can govern all subdivisions in the County, but they cannot govern use of private property. The committee would like to recommend Countywide Zoning (Annette has current zoning layer). · Rehberg Project Area - defensible space, thinning of neighboring coulees, and education · Emerald Hills Project Area - address access issues, defensible space, community defens~le space, and education · Alkali Creek Project Area - (developing area) address access issues, defensible space, and education · Pine Hills Project Area- education · Briarwood Project Area- some defensible space projects and education · Pleasant Hollow Project Area - defensible space, address access on private drives, and some defensible space · Indian Cliffs Project Area - thinning and defensible space · Echo Canyon Project Area- education · Secret Valley Project Area - address access issues (too steep) and education · Hill Estates Project Area - (developing 40 lots and 1 dry hydrant) education and some defens~le space · High Trails Project Area- address access issues (too steep), some defensible space, and education · Subdivisions on Jellison Road need annexed into the City of Billings The next committee meeting will be on Wednesday October 19th. Reminder letters and emails with more information will be sent out prior to the meeting.