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• 1. [Article] Protection from fire program review: final report

  Oregon’s Protection from Fire Program is among the premier wildfire protection programs in the western U.S. and the largest program within the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF). The program provides ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Protection from fire program review: final report Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Oregon’s Protection from Fire Program is among the premier wildfire protection programs in the western U.S. and the largest program within the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF). The program provides wildfire protection on about 15.8 million acres of mostly privately-owned Oregon forestland. Private and state interests in protecting Oregon forests from fire have been intertwined since the early 1900s when ODF was created. The State Forester was charged with providing a complete and coordinated fire protection system. This was accomplished by working with the existing forest protection associations and, eventually, expanding their responsibilities. The complete Protection from Fire Program has not been reviewed for several years. The 2003 Oregon Legislature directed ODF to address specific funding issues and recommend emergency fire insurance funding and coverage strategies (Budget Note #3, Appendix A). State Forester Marvin Brown directed ODF to conduct a broader review of the program, including all major program components. The purpose of the review was to identify ways to maintain and improve the program to ensure continuation of effective and efficient fire protection for Oregon's forests and adjacent communities. Title: Protection from fire program review: final report Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Oregon’s Protection from Fire Program is among the premier wildfire protection programs in the western U.S. and the largest program within the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF). The program provides wildfire protection on about 15.8 million acres of mostly privately-owned Oregon forestland. Private and state interests in protecting Oregon forests from fire have been intertwined since the early 1900s when ODF was created. The State Forester was charged with providing a complete and coordinated fire protection system. This was accomplished by working with the existing forest protection associations and, eventually, expanding their responsibilities. The complete Protection from Fire Program has not been reviewed for several years. The 2003 Oregon Legislature directed ODF to address specific funding issues and recommend emergency fire insurance funding and coverage strategies (Budget Note #3, Appendix A). State Forester Marvin Brown directed ODF to conduct a broader review of the program, including all major program components. The purpose of the review was to identify ways to maintain and improve the program to ensure continuation of effective and efficient fire protection for Oregon's forests and adjacent communities. Close

• 2. [Article] Fire prevention working group

  Using the existing ODF program as a guide, this report will stress the importance of cooperation and collaboration between agencies, landowners, industry, and citizens to create more successful public ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Fire prevention working group Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Using the existing ODF program as a guide, this report will stress the importance of cooperation and collaboration between agencies, landowners, industry, and citizens to create more successful public awareness and education programs. In this report we discuss improved Department emphasis on prevention, better training for those who need to implement fire prevention outreach, small changes in State statutes, and more focused education efforts to increase citizen understanding of their responsibility in wildfire prevention. This report will also show the need to shift gears and help the public recognize that human-caused wildfires are largely the result of landowner activities on their own lands. Additionally, we will describe the need for a formal training program – cooperatively financed and managed by federal, state, and private agencies – for fire prevention professionals who serve in pubic education and outreach roles. Finally this report will emphasize that while it is essential to increase public awareness of the wildfire problem through contacts at fairs, home shows, and other public events, it is through targeted public education that behaviors can best be modified or changed. Title: Fire prevention working group Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Using the existing ODF program as a guide, this report will stress the importance of cooperation and collaboration between agencies, landowners, industry, and citizens to create more successful public awareness and education programs. In this report we discuss improved Department emphasis on prevention, better training for those who need to implement fire prevention outreach, small changes in State statutes, and more focused education efforts to increase citizen understanding of their responsibility in wildfire prevention. This report will also show the need to shift gears and help the public recognize that human-caused wildfires are largely the result of landowner activities on their own lands. Additionally, we will describe the need for a formal training program – cooperatively financed and managed by federal, state, and private agencies – for fire prevention professionals who serve in pubic education and outreach roles. Finally this report will emphasize that while it is essential to increase public awareness of the wildfire problem through contacts at fairs, home shows, and other public events, it is through targeted public education that behaviors can best be modified or changed. Close

• 3. [Article] Protection from fire program review: implementation plan

  This document describes strategies and specific actions that will be undertaken to implement recommendations that emerged from a comprehensive review of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Protection ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Protection from fire program review: implementation plan Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources This document describes strategies and specific actions that will be undertaken to implement recommendations that emerged from a comprehensive review of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Protection from Fire Program. The fire funding/budgeting review was conducted by ODF in 2004 as directed by the 2003 Oregon Legislature. State Forester Marvin Brown expanded the review to include six topical workgroups involving a diverse group of stakeholders. Each workgroup met several times in 2004 and developed a report detailing their strategies and recommendations for revising, refining and updating program components. Recommendations from each report were collated into a master document, clarified and integrated by the Steering Committee, and further refined based on stakeholder input. ODF proposes to implement Fire Program Review recommendations using a two-pronged approach of rapidly implementing relatively straightforward action items while at the same time identifying and initiating the sustained efforts that will be needed to accomplish the more difficult and complex high priority tasks. Title: Protection from fire program review: implementation plan Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources This document describes strategies and specific actions that will be undertaken to implement recommendations that emerged from a comprehensive review of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Protection from Fire Program. The fire funding/budgeting review was conducted by ODF in 2004 as directed by the 2003 Oregon Legislature. State Forester Marvin Brown expanded the review to include six topical workgroups involving a diverse group of stakeholders. Each workgroup met several times in 2004 and developed a report detailing their strategies and recommendations for revising, refining and updating program components. Recommendations from each report were collated into a master document, clarified and integrated by the Steering Committee, and further refined based on stakeholder input. ODF proposes to implement Fire Program Review recommendations using a two-pronged approach of rapidly implementing relatively straightforward action items while at the same time identifying and initiating the sustained efforts that will be needed to accomplish the more difficult and complex high priority tasks. Close

• 4. [Article] Fire protection coverage working group

  Oregon contains approximately 6 million acres of mostly private lands that have no one individual, organization, or agency responsible for fire prevention and suppression actions. Wildland fires in these ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Fire protection coverage working group Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Oregon contains approximately 6 million acres of mostly private lands that have no one individual, organization, or agency responsible for fire prevention and suppression actions. Wildland fires in these areas have burned adjacent landowner resources, structures, and improvements; threaten public safety; and have other impacts on residents and the general public such as closing highways. While many of these fires remain small and have limited impacts, several have become large, damaging, and expensive fires to suppress. An incomplete record of fires involving unprotected lands exist, but since 1996, there have been at least 120 fires that have burned over 240,000 acres with suppression costs approaching $9 Million. After removing 4 large, expensive fires, the average suppression cost for the remaining 117 fires was $8,400. In addition, this working group was originally tasked with looking into a related issue associated with structural fire protection. Since that time, the Governor’s Fire Service Policy Council established a parallel effort to address the issue of continuing to provide catastrophic fire protection to communities outside a structural fire jurisdiction. Some additional discussion related to the connection between these two efforts will occur in this document, but will be considerably less than originally envisioned. Due to this parallel effort, the primary focus of this paper is on wildland fire protection. Title: Fire protection coverage working group Author: Oregon Department of Forestry, Institute for Natural Resources Oregon contains approximately 6 million acres of mostly private lands that have no one individual, organization, or agency responsible for fire prevention and suppression actions. Wildland fires in these areas have burned adjacent landowner resources, structures, and improvements; threaten public safety; and have other impacts on residents and the general public such as closing highways. While many of these fires remain small and have limited impacts, several have become large, damaging, and expensive fires to suppress. An incomplete record of fires involving unprotected lands exist, but since 1996, there have been at least 120 fires that have burned over 240,000 acres with suppression costs approaching $9 Million. After removing 4 large, expensive fires, the average suppression cost for the remaining 117 fires was $8,400. In addition, this working group was originally tasked with looking into a related issue associated with structural fire protection. Since that time, the Governor’s Fire Service Policy Council established a parallel effort to address the issue of continuing to provide catastrophic fire protection to communities outside a structural fire jurisdiction. Some additional discussion related to the connection between these two efforts will occur in this document, but will be considerably less than originally envisioned. Due to this parallel effort, the primary focus of this paper is on wildland fire protection. Close

• 5. [Article] Report of the forest fuels and hazard mitigation committee to the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon Fire Program Review

  Many Oregon communities face serious and growing risks from wildfires. These fires are increasingly large and severe after many decades of fire suppression and land use changes, flammable fuel buildups ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Report of the forest fuels and hazard mitigation committee to the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon Fire Program Review Author: Institute for Natural Resources, Behan, Jeff, Lynn, Kathy Many Oregon communities face serious and growing risks from wildfires. These fires are increasingly large and severe after many decades of fire suppression and land use changes, flammable fuel buildups and interactions with climate. The wildland-urban interface (WUI) continues to expand as people relocate to rural areas where they often expect structural fire protection similar to what they experienced in cities. But conditions are different in rural communities located in fire-prone forests. The risk of severe wildfire is greater and limited resources are available to deal with severe fires when they break out. Fire prevention and suppression without vegetation management to reduce accumulated fuels has and will result in a continuation of uncharacteristically severe, stand-replacing wildfires, particularly in eastern and southwestern Oregon. These fires are difficult and expensive to control. They also place firefighters at high risk. Federal, state and rural fire protection agencies are struggling to cope as wildfire threats, costs, and the scope of protection responsibilities continue to increase. Federal agencies have initiated efforts to reduce hazardous fuels and increase community wildfire readiness as directed by the 2000 National Fire Plan (NFP) and 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA). These mandates are now being implemented at multiple levels with every effort to coordinate for greater efficiency. As part of the 2004 Oregon Fire Program Review, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) formed the Forest Fuels and Hazard Mitigation (FFHM) Committee to assess hazardous fuel loading issues, and recommend ways to reduce risk, and improve and strengthen the multiple hazard mitigation strategies in Oregon. Title: Report of the forest fuels and hazard mitigation committee to the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon Fire Program Review Author: Institute for Natural Resources, Behan, Jeff, Lynn, Kathy Many Oregon communities face serious and growing risks from wildfires. These fires are increasingly large and severe after many decades of fire suppression and land use changes, flammable fuel buildups and interactions with climate. The wildland-urban interface (WUI) continues to expand as people relocate to rural areas where they often expect structural fire protection similar to what they experienced in cities. But conditions are different in rural communities located in fire-prone forests. The risk of severe wildfire is greater and limited resources are available to deal with severe fires when they break out. Fire prevention and suppression without vegetation management to reduce accumulated fuels has and will result in a continuation of uncharacteristically severe, stand-replacing wildfires, particularly in eastern and southwestern Oregon. These fires are difficult and expensive to control. They also place firefighters at high risk. Federal, state and rural fire protection agencies are struggling to cope as wildfire threats, costs, and the scope of protection responsibilities continue to increase. Federal agencies have initiated efforts to reduce hazardous fuels and increase community wildfire readiness as directed by the 2000 National Fire Plan (NFP) and 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA). These mandates are now being implemented at multiple levels with every effort to coordinate for greater efficiency. As part of the 2004 Oregon Fire Program Review, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) formed the Forest Fuels and Hazard Mitigation (FFHM) Committee to assess hazardous fuel loading issues, and recommend ways to reduce risk, and improve and strengthen the multiple hazard mitigation strategies in Oregon. Close