Action Plan

The research outlined in this report will be used to reduce the potential cost and loss from a wildland fire. This will be accomplished through fire prevention and vegetation management projects.

Fire Prevention

Fire engineering, code enforcement, and public education are the main components of fire prevention. In general, these programs have been shown to be highly effective at reducing the incidence of fire.

Clear identification of fire causes forms the basis of an effective prevention program. Additional staff was trained in fire cause and origin identification with the implementation of the California Fire Plan. A major part of fire prevention is ignition management. Ignition management is aimed at determining cause and focusing prevention measures based on cause. Fires from 1990 to 1997 were mapped and fire causes were analyzed. Fire cause based on the 885 ignitions* over this seven year period the indicate the following:

*Submitted from every fire agency countywide
**Reducing the number of "Undetermined Caused" fires is a department goal. To meet this goal, annual wildland fire investigation classes are offered each spring.

With the high incidence of equipment caused fires, plans for roadside signs are underway. Fire Safe Marin has posted signs throughout the county, which have a safety message on a flap. During extreme fire danger, the flaps can be opened to show a message warning of the fire hazard. Currently, the signs all read, "Please check your smoke detector." With simple modification, the signs in the West Marin dairy communities will read, "Please check your spark arrestor."

The department also limits ignition potential during periods of high hazards through coordinated land closures with the Marin Municipal Water District, State Parks, and the Marin Open Space District. This program creates a heightened level of fire awareness and prevents evacuation in the event of a wildfire.

Fire engineering is a means to control wildfire by building in control measures. Before a wildfire is controlled, it must be contained. Fuel breaks and fire roads are pre-suppression measures that greatly assist with containing a fire. Fuel breaks are strategically placed strips of low volume fuels designed to provide attack points, safe access, and reduced fire behavior. Flanking and backing fires are often controlled using fuel breaks as lines for indirect attack. Fire roads allow access into areas for rapid initial attack. The faster a fire engine can gain access to a fire, the greater the chance for successful suppression action.

County Fire maintains and annually grades over 120 miles of fire roads. It also recommends to other large stakeholders, such as the Marin County Open Space District, the California State Parks, the National Park Service, and the Marin Municipal Water District, where grading and other fuel reduction projects will provide the most benefit. Using the Fire Plan analysis, fire roads are being studied to insure they provide a public benefit and not an erosion or ecological detriment.

Please see Marin County Fire Road Map - Under Construction

The Wildland Fire code enforcement component is aimed at the enforcement of California Public Resource Code 4291 that insures citizens provide defensible space around dwelling structures. As the 1995 Mt. Vision Fire proved, the two best predictors of structure survival are clearance around structures (i.e., defensible space), and the composition of the roof material. In 1993, the county adopted a fire safe roofing requiring residents to install Class A materials, when old roofs are replaced.

Defensible space can be an immediate benefit. The Marin County Fire Department mails Residential Wildfire Hazard Reduction Program information and self-inspection forms notices to approximately 7000 residences. Engine companies conduct 700 to 1000 inspections annually, enforcing Public Resource Code 4291. The department and Fire Safe Marin coordinate inspection and enforcement programs for local fire districts within the State Responsibility Area.

Land use planning is another means of insuring code enforcement before poor or hazardous building decisions. Land use planning can reduce loss of structures through strategic planning development locations and construction landscaping. Marin County has numerous structures that are located within the wildland-urban interface. Homes with wood siding, wood decks, and wood shingled roofs are at extreme risk from a wildland fire! Future building plans are checked to insure this building practice is not repeated and other fire protection measures are met. Adequate water supply, fire engine access, and turn-around areas are also required. The department reviews approximately 50 plans annually.

Public education is a very high priority in Marin County. Fire Safe Marin spearheads this effort. A quarterly fire safe newsletter is sent to 3000 residents. Bulletins that cover fire resistant plants and landscaping have been developed and distributed. Fire safe seminars are conducted hosting landscape professionals, city and county planners, and utility companies.

The Marin County Fire Department’s public education objective is to create a web page that includes this fire management plan. Citizens will be able to observe their community and the associated fire risk. Current projects will be highlighted to demonstrate the positive effect from vegetation management projects.

Vegetation Management

Vegetation management projects change fire risk, fire hazard and exposure of assets at risk before a major fire occurs, thereby reducing potential losses. Controlled burns, fire thinning, fire and fuel breaks, and other forms of vegetation management generally reduce the intensity or the rate of spread.

Fuels Management

Fuels management alters fuel characteristics (amount, continuity, etc.) such that hazard is reduced. Most fuel treatments are designed to reduce fire behavior (spread, intensity), such that the fire is easier to contain, or the damage from the fire is reduced due to lower intensities.

Fuel management practices clearly reduce fire behavior, particularly for area treatments such as broadcast prescribed fire. Fuel treatments removing ladder fuels on forested systems can significantly affect the potential for crown fires, which are extremely difficult to control and often devastating. Fuels management also significantly reduces wildfire occurrence and acreage burned. However, fuels management may have little impact on spread during periods of extreme weather. Project placement and maintenance frequency influence its effectiveness.

Vegetation management offers increased safety to firefighters, particularly in areas where fuel reduction provides a refuge from dangerous burning conditions. Controlled burns also provide an opportunity for firefighter training.

The three fuel management approaches are defensible space, fuel breaks, and fire protection zones. Defensible space around a structure is provided by the landowner. This is accomplished through inspection programs, education, and free vegetation collection sites. Community fuel break projects provide strategic locations to contain a fire. Fire protection zones are large areas treated by controlled burns. or mechanical means, to reduce the fuel load.

Strategic and Tactical Fire Suppression Plan

It is the goal of the department to tie together all the vegetation management projects implemented by every stakeholder with the fire protection road system to create a strategic and tactical fire suppression plan. Fuel reduction projects are being implemented by the Mill Valley Fire Department, Novato Fire Department, and the Marin Open Space District. A countywide tactical plan will be created that will break the county into pre-identified zones. It will work in conjunction with the existing County Master Mutual Aid Plan which allows resource allocation regardless of jurisdiction.

The zones will be mapped and firefighting considerations will be identified. Consideration such as water sources, safety zones, access, and assets at risk will be included for each zone. Suppression strategies will be addressed based on assets protected and resource management goals. The National Park Service has already identified zones within its jurisdiction.

Summary of Projects-Current and Future

Kent Woodlands Project and Marinview Project

Key Impacts for Project Implementation

Marin County is suffering from large loss of oak trees due to an unknown pathogen and subsequent beetle infestation. Studies are being conducted to determine the critical areas. The dead coast live oaks and tanbark oaks will contribute to the fire problem. The oaks are changing from a fire resistive species into a vegetation type that will readily burn.

Openings in the closed canopy forest will change the fire dynamics. Areas that were once sheltered will now support grass, fir trees, French broom and the Scotch broom species. Without sheltering, fuels will be heated by solar radiation and react to changes in wind speed.

Conclusion

Early fire managers identified rugged terrain areas throughout Marin as very high fire hazards. As outlined in this report, today’s science validates those early predictions.

From the 1929 Mill Valley fire that burned 117 homes, to the 48 homes lost on Mt. Vision, it is only a matter of time until Marin has another large damaging fire.

Knowing there is a problem is one challenge. Communicating it to various partners is another. It is the department’s intention to use this document to plan, organize, and implement projects for safer communities and environments.

Please see Total Ranking Map - Under Construction

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