Wildfire and the Wildland-Urban Interface

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Wildfire. It is one of the most destructive forms of energy on our planet. Often, the idea of wildfire brings up images of ash and smoke, of evacuation and loss. This is not surprising, as often we are aware of wildfire only when it threatens us or those we know. But is a common and age-old element of the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Only seldom is "wildfire" used in the same context as regrowth, renewal, or even the idea of "natural." But fire is a normal and essential part of many forest ecosystems, including those of the north Olympic Peninsula, and living in this area demands an understanding of fire as an ecological process. 

Every summer, the Olympic Peninsula experiences dozens of small wildfires, and every few decades we experience larger ones.

The combination of the driest climate in western Washington and heavy vegetative fuel loads means that the potential for a major disaster resulting from wildfire is extremely high—all it would take is an ignition under the right weather conditions. Increases in the number of homes being built within our region's wildlands--an area that firefighters call the Wildland-Urban Interface--create urgency in defining the responsibility and interactions of humans within these fire-prone landscapes.

In nature, fire is a force of renewal. In neighborhoods, fire can destroy homes and lives, endanger firefighters, and adversely affect our quality of life. In our quest to be closer to and more a part of nature, we have pushed into wildland areas, areas shaped by fire. With our presence and our investments at stake, protecting the homestead becomes a priority. With adequate forethought and proper preparations, we can adapt to changes in our environment. Living in the interface between the forest and developed land evokes a new set of rules and methods of thinking of our place in nature.

Be sure to read the recent articles from the Sequim Gazette and the Peninsula Daily News.
Community Wildfire Protection Plans

Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) for Clallam County and Bainbridge Island developed by the Center have been approved by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. These plans designate areas of human development that are "at-risk" of catastrophic losses in the event of wildfire, and provide potential mitigation solutions. These completed CWPPs will now allow regional fire service agencies to work toward education and mitigation in their communities, as well as compete for grants that will reduce wildfire hazard.

Below is the Clallam County CWPP available for download from this site, links to DNR's site are above:

Clallam County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (11.2Mb pdf file; click here for a lo-res version for faster download/viewing: 5.2Mb pdf file)

The Wildland-Urban Interface of Clallam and Jefferson Counties
Areas of Increased Danger to Firefighters

Fire in the wildland-urban interface near Sequim

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A recent study by Headwaters Economics found that Clallam County has the highest existing risk of catastrophic losses in the event of a major wildfire in all of Washington and is fifth highest among all 413 counties of the 11 states of the western United States. Jefferson County is ranked 58th in the West in the same study.

The study also ranks Clallam County second in Washington and twenty-fifth in the counties of the western states for potential future risk as the result of increasing human development in wildfire-prone native ecosystems, an area that firefighters call the wildland-urban interface (WUI).

Since 2007, Peninsula College and Western Washington University-Port Angeles faculty and students have teamed up with fire service agencies and professionals from Clallam and Jefferson Counties to study this hazard in more detail, evaluate current conditions, and determine what we can all do--firefighters, policy-makers, and homeowners alike--to reduce this hazard and create safer communities.

The following publications and map files provide maps, more information on our studies, and ideas on what you can do to reduce the chances of your losing your home to wildland fires. They also suggest things that policy-makers could use to improve codes and make our region safer for all of us: wildlife, forests, property, and people.

Wildfire Hazard Assessment and the Wildland-Urban Interface of the North Olympic Peninsula, Washington (2009)

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This atlas presents the results of a geographical assessment of wildfire hazard for the north Olympic Peninsula (Jefferson and Clallam Counties), combining the relative hazards important to wildland fire behavior during the fire season to derive monthly maps of wildfire hazard. We have also created maps delineating the WUI for Clallam and Jefferson Counties based on existing structural development that intersect with areas of wildland vegetation. These maps can be useful for hazard mitigation, planning, and education efforts by showing the relative levels of wildfire hazard across the Peninsula.

Print version (15.5mb)
Web version (5.5mb)

Wildfire on the Peninsula: An Assessment of Hazard, Risk, and Mitigation Opportunities in Eastern Clallam County (2008)

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How do we maintain the amenities of our region’s natural beauty and minimize the risk of a wildfire disaster? A group of students, college faculty, and emergency management personnel decided to start addressing this issue together in the fall of 2007; the results of our initial study are contained in this report. In short, we found that there are many things that we can do, as individual landowners and as governmental entities, which can alleviate existing risk, mitigate existing and future hazards, and still help maintain the pleasures that come with living in a beautiful rural area. While fire scientists, emergency personnel, and residents will continue to assess risk and plan for mitigation, homeowners can start now to do whatever they can to reduce hazards on their properties to minimize the chances that their homes will ignite in the event of a wildfire. We hope that this report can serve as the basis for immediate, useful improvements on the ground, while simultaneously helping us to plan and work together to protect our lives, livelihoods, properties, and all of the natural amenities that make the north Olympic Peninsula a great place to live.

Print version (19.2mb)
Web version (5.5mb)
Resources to Help You Protect Your Home
Firewise Communities

The Firewise Communities website contains a wide variety of information on what you can do to make your home and property wildfire safe.

Take a Virtual Tour of a Firewise Home

Interactive Tool for Preparing Your Property for Wildland Fire Season

Are you Firewise?

 

Explore your neighborhood: Google Earth map files

 

How to:

If you do not already have Google Earth installed, you will need to download and install it. Google Earth is free software, and is available at earth.google.com/download-earth.html. Once you have installed it, you can view these wildfire hazard and WUI map files (below) on your computer.

To see where your house is in relation to these map results, click on the file name you are interested in exploring and select "Open with" Google Earth.

GE open box

Once the Google Earth opens and the map file loads, type in your street address and zip code in the upper left "Fly to" bar under the Search box, such as "1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., 98362" (the address for Peninsula College's Port Angeles campus), and Google Earth will zoom in to that location.

GE window

 

Google Earth map files:

Wildland-Urban Interface Boundary

This is the same map as the first map (above), but also contains information about the WUI as well as web links for more information.

Areas of Highest Relative Wildfire Hazard for the Fire Season (April-October)

This is the same map as the second map (above), but also contains information about how the map was created and links for more information.

For details on the following three map files (below) and how they were created, please see Wildfire Hazard Assessment and the Wildland-Urban Interfaceof the North Olympic Peninsula, Washington (web-optimized .pdf file, 5.5mb).

Spatial Wildfire Hazard (does not take climate into account)

Overall Wildfire Hazard for the Fire Season (April-October)

Areas of Increased Danger to Firefighters

 

Other Website Resources

Washington DNR CWPPs for locations throughout the state

Washington DNR Fire Prevention Assistance Information & Prevention

Clallam County Fire District 3

USGS Wildfire Information

FEMA Wildfire Information

 

Useful Code References

If you are concerned with increasing development also increasing the risk of catastrophic loss in the event of a wildfire, suggest to your city council or county commissioner that your area adopt codes that really work in making our communities safer, helping firefighters better protect lives and property. The following references provide examples of codes used throughout the United States to reduce risks and hazards in the wildland-urban interface for firefighters and residents alike.

ICC. 2006. International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. Washington, DC: International Code Council.

NFPA. 2008. Standard for Fire Protection Infrastructure for Land Development in Suburban and Rural Areas. NFPA 1141. Quincy Park, MA: National Fire Protection Association.

NFPA. 2008. Standard for Protection of Life and Property from Wildfire. NFPA 1144. Quincy Park, MA: National Fire Protection Association.