SALEM, OR -- Oregon's Wildfire Hazard Map is moving into its next phase of development, after a month of public comment. The Board of Forestry this week narrowly approved rules for the map's rollout.
During this summer's public review period, Oregon's Department of Forestry received around 2,000 comments on the latest draft of the Wildfire Hazard Map. ODF's Tim Holschbach told the Board of Forestry everyone in a high hazard area will be notified with a packet of information, "What's different this time than it was in 2022, when the first notifications went out, is there'll be the draft building codes and the draft defensible space code is available." One board member noted, "The only thing that this map would trigger for a landowner is a defensible space requirement. The home hardening requirement is only for a new building permit, if you were to undertake any new construction or remodeling of a home."
Oregon Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi addressed concerns about insurers pulling out of the state, like in California. Stolfi told the board California loses more homes to wildfire in fewer acres burned, compared to Oregon, "So, it's just a significant difference. It's a much more populous state, of course. But, differences in where the homes are built, between the two states, makes a huge difference." He says insurance companies have changed policies in wildfire-prone areas, but none have actually left the state. The new map considers climate, topography and vegetation, which Stolfi says, are only minor factors for insurers, "Some other characteristics, which insurance companies care very, very much about: age of the home, age of the roof, the type of roof, how far is that property from a fire station, what are the cost of the materials to rebuild, what's the square footage of the home?"
Before the four-to-three vote, board members spent a lot of time discussing the impact of irrigation on farmland, and whether data shows irrigated lands are less prone to fire. "Getting after agricultural fields is not what this rule was designed to do," said one board member, "The idea was to try and take care of where we've got structures and homes and forests that are likely to burn, that they'd be hardened." Another pushed back, saying their decisions will have broad consequences beyond fire protection, "We already are dealing with rural Oregonians feeling assaulted on a lot of levels, and assaulted around this map. I understand your logic, I don't really disagree with it. But I think it's salt in the wound." The approval allows a provision for agricultural land irrigated at least one out of every five years.
The rules are now on thier way to the legislative legal council for review.
