Current:Home > BackOregon Has A New Plan To Protect Homes From Wildfire. Homebuilders Are Pushing Back-LoTradeCoin
Oregon Has A New Plan To Protect Homes From Wildfire. Homebuilders Are Pushing Back
View Date:2025-01-11 07:37:11
The green metal roof on Mary Bradshaw's house gleams amid scorched earth and dead, blackened trees. All of the surrounding homes burned in last year's Beachie Creek Fire in Oregon's Santiam Canyon, but hers was untouched.
"We were shocked," Bradshaw said. "Having seen what the fire did, we really didn't expect it to be standing."
It's a shining example of how home-hardening measures can prevent houses from burning, even when they're surrounded by fire. Bradshaw and her husband built their home with concrete siding, a cement porch, no gutters or air vents on the metal roof, and no vegetation near the house. Those are all key fireproofing measures that experts recommend.
"We built it with fire in mind, although we never thought we would have a fire," Bradshaw said.
Oregon leaders are hoping some of these measures will help save homes from burning in future wildfires as summers in the West get hotter, drier and more fire-prone. But they have been the most controversial part of a sweeping new wildfire protection plan, facing pushback from property owners, and homebuilding and agricultural industries.
In a compromise of sorts, those groups, along with others, will now spend the next year advising state agencies on how to map out the state's most fire-prone areas and determine where the home-hardening rules will be required.
Most states don't require fire-resistant materials
California has mandated wildfire building codes in high-risk areas for more than a decade, but it's an outlier. An NPR analysis last year found most states don't require rebuilding with fire-resistant materials, and homebuilder associations have mounted stiff opposition to proposals to do so.
That happened in Oregon when officials first pushed for wildfire building codes several years ago. The Oregon Home Builders Association testified the measures would add substantial cost to a home's price, even though other assessments found fire-resistant homes would be minimally higher or even cheaper. The state did approve fire mitigation codes in 2019 but left them optional.
Then last year, raging wildfires in Oregon destroyed thousands of homes and killed nine people.
The wave of unprecedented destruction prompted lawmakers to pass a wide-ranging $200 million wildfire bill to prevent another such catastrophe. It also includes more firefighting capacity, expanded forest management plans and clean air shelters to protect vulnerable people from smoke.
"I don't think any of us will forget the horror as we saw towns burned overnight, thousands evacuated their homes, leaving behind all of their belongings," Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in signing the bill. "We were simply not equipped to fight the fires of this new age, which are faster and more fierce and fueled by the impacts of climate change."
Democratic state Sen. Jeff Golden, who led the effort to pass the bill, said it's important to know what parts of the state are most at risk from wildfire and prioritize action in those areas.
"Nobody's even beginning to think we're going to eliminate wildfire going forward but just reduce risks and protect communities," he said. "We're fighting for our survival in a very real way, and there's a lot of trends working against us."
Oregon will now map out which places face the highest fire risk
Fire-risk maps will have the biggest influence over which areas will see the strictest fire-safe building codes for new construction, Golden said. There will also be requirements for clearing out flammable material around homes.
A key sticking point will come down to defining the so-called wildland-urban interface, where residential areas meet forests and rangelands. It's the fastest-growing land use type and that, along with the warmer climate, is raising wildfire risk for communities across the country.
"We are looking for a balance between letting people do exactly what they want on their private property and responding to this existential threat," Golden said.
During the legislative session, critics from real estate, construction and agricultural industries again sounded alarms. They worried broad restrictions would increase costs for property owners, homebuilders and farmers and infringe on private property rights.
"If Sen. Golden thinks for a minute I'm going to cut down the 200-year-old, 200-foot-tall, old growth ponderosa pine in my yard he is mistaken," state Sen. Betsy Johnson said on a radio show. "I'm just not sure I want unseen, unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats dictating the future of the state of Oregon and how we all are going to live on our own property."
Opponents of the new rules are on the advisory committees that will help figure out where to require them. They include Mark Long, CEO of the Oregon Home Builders Association, and Dave Hunnicutt, president of the Oregon Property Owners Association. Hunnicutt said he worries the rules will not be applied narrowly enough.
"We have a proposed definition of wildland-urban interface that will essentially include the entire state of Oregon," he said.
Meanwhile, a new program has already launched — with $11 million in funding from the new law — to clear flammable brush from the "home ignition zone" in wildland-urban interface areas.
Jeff Parker, executive director of Northwest Youth Corps, said many communities have natural areas loaded with excess fuel that could send a fire burning faster and hotter toward nearby homes.
His workforce training group usually pays young people to clear weeds or build trails in wilderness areas, but now it will be spending more time in neighborhoods, basically doing extreme yardwork.
"Our objective here is to ... make sure our community has resiliency," Parker said. "So if a fire does roll through, it doesn't have the catastrophic impact, the mass displacement of people and the impact on the community."
veryGood! (965)
Related
- 2 striking teacher unions in Massachusetts face growing fines for refusing to return to classroom
- New Mexico legislators approve bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Next stop Hollywood? Travis Kelce gets first producer credit on SXSW movie
- Greek lawmakers are debating a landmark bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Here’s what it means
- 2024 'virtually certain' to be warmest year on record, scientists say
- Inflation dipped in January, CPI report shows. But not as much as hoped.
- NBA All-Star game: Kentucky basketball sets record with 7 participants
- Portland, Maine, shows love for late Valentine’s Day Bandit by continuing tradition of paper hearts
- A herniated disc is painful, debilitating. How to get relief.
- Looking for love? You'll find it in 2024 in these 10 romance novels
Ranking
- Stop smartphone distractions by creating a focus mode: Video tutorial
- Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom and More Stars Who Got Engaged or Married on Valentine's Day
- Biden urges House to take up Ukraine and Israel aid package: Pass this bill immediately
- 2 suspected gang members arrested after 4 killed in Los Angeles-area shootings
- Businesses at struggling corner where George Floyd was killed sue Minneapolis
- Ticket prices to see Caitlin Clark go for NCAA women's scoring record near record levels
- Group challenges restrictions in Arizona election manual on ballot drop-off locations
- Southern Charm’s Madison LeCroy's Date Night Musts Include a Dior Lip Oil Dupe & BravoCon Fashion
Recommendation
-
When do new 'Yellowstone' episodes come out? Here's the Season 5, Part 2 episode schedule
-
Stock Up on Outdoor Winter Essentials with These Amazing Deals from Sorel, North Face, REI & More
-
Stock Up on Outdoor Winter Essentials with These Amazing Deals from Sorel, North Face, REI & More
-
Family of man who died after being tackled by mental crisis team sues paramedic, police officer
-
RHOBH's Kyle Richards Shares Reaction to BFF Teddi Mellencamp's Divorce
-
Oil and gas producer to pay millions to US and New Mexico to remedy pollution concerns
-
Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly suspended five games for cross-check to Senators' Ridly Greig
-
Lawmakers honor House clerk who served during chaos of Jan. 6 and McCarthy speaker votes