Newsletter

Managing Wildfire Risks

By Tim Karcz, Senior Risk Manager

Increasingly destructive wildfires pose significant threats to California JPIA members, including exposure to personnel safety, property loss, and continuity of operations. While summer months heighten the risk due to extended dry, hot, and windy periods, wildfires can occur anytime and without warning. To assist members in understanding and preparing for wildfire exposures, the California JPIA published the Wildfire Risk Management White Paper, available for download on the Authority’s website. The white paper includes an in-depth analysis of wildfire exposures specifically for public agencies, including an array of unique actions your agency can take to better prepare for them.

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The following outlines immediate steps that can be taken to enhance employee safety and minimize property losses from wildfires and related emergencies.

Manage Property Fire Risks and Defensible Space:
California law requires property owners to maintain up to 100 feet around a building as a defensible space buffer. Defensible space is divided into three zones that span from zero to 100 feet, each with measures to reduce landscape fuels and increase ember resistance. Managing plant and hardscape materials in these zones through a site-specific property and vegetation maintenance plan is critical. Use the following steps to help in this process:

• Keep plants watered, trimmed, and pruned. Avoid the accumulation of vegetative debris by removing dead and dying plants that may act as a fuel source.
• Choose hardscapes like gravel, pavers, concrete, and other non-combustible mulch materials.
• Properly label and store flammable liquids, hazardous wastes, and other combustible materials away from the defensible space buffer or inside the facility.
• Control the use of heat-producing equipment, such as gas-powered weed eaters, in high-risk areas and during high-risk times of the day.

To help members manage wildfire threats to personnel and property, the California JPIA partnered with Fireline Defense, LLC, to provide no-cost wildfire risk assessments. These assessments locate and analyze wildfire exposures and offer recommendations to help facilitate targeted mitigation measures.

Protect Ventilation Systems:
Many wildfire-related property losses have involved heating and ventilation system contamination. The following steps can help reduce a wildfire’s impact:

• Install metal screens of 1/8” or finer across vents to block windblown embers from entering.
• Attempt to close attics, crawl spaces, and ventilation ducts in the event of a nearby wildfire to reduce the possibility of fire and smoke traveling throughout the building.
• Conduct regular inspections to ensure they are not damaged or compromised.

Develop an Emergency Plan:
Develop site-specific emergency plans for your agency. Start by discussing wildfire mitigation strategies with local fire authorities, focusing on key variables that impact your agency’s specific exposure. Various resources exist to assist in developing a Wildfire Emergency Plan and are in the resources section below. Specific elements that should be covered in the plan include:

• Conditions that will activate the plan
• Emergency functions and who will perform them
• Evacuation procedures for agency-occupied facilities
• Community evacuation routes
• Provisions for inspecting agency-owned facilities and infrastructure for vulnerabilities
• Provisions for managing property risks, such as maintaining defensible space and hardening infrastructure

Wildfire won’t wait! Act now to prepare, prevent, and minimize the damage of wildfires in your community. Please contact your regional risk manager for more information.

Additional Resources:

California JPIA’s Wildfire Risk Management White Paper: In-depth analysis of wildfire-related risks

On Fire: The Report of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission

Cal/OSHA’s Regulation for Protecting Workers from Wildfire Smoke: CCR Title 8, Section 5141.1

California Office of Emergency Services Wildfire Recovery Resources: State-wide wildfire resources

Cal Fire’s Defensible Space Guidelines: Detailed information on managing your defensible space

Ready for Wildfire: Cal Fire’s wildfire resource website

Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA): Wildfire emergency planning resources

Cal/Fire’s Active Incident Archive: Up-to-date information on all statewide active incident

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