Special taxes, regulations among wildfire zone recommendations

Special taxes, regulations among wildfire zone recommendations

13 October 2013

published by www.coloradoan.com


USA — When Carl Solley and his wife moved into a log home in Poudre Canyon five years ago, he warned her about the inevitable.

“There is going to be a major wildfire on the Front Range,” Solley told his wife. “Mother Nature is just basically taking care of business here, and you know what, we are getting in her way.”

Solley isn’t the only one who has recognized the inevitability of wildfire. This year, Gov. John Hickenlooper commissioned a Wildfire Insurance and Forest Health Task Force to examine how Coloradans and their government can better bolster themselves against destruction by fire.

The task force’s recommendations, released last week, suggest extra taxes for residents who live in wildfire zones and propose the expensive creation of a statewide wildfire risk assessment system, which would give results to insurance companies and real estate agents.

Even though he has chosen to live in a wildfire-prone zone, Solley, like his neighbors, has mixed feelings about the recommendations, some of which would require legislative changes. Firefighters and local governments agree mitigating the impact of fire is necessary. But extra taxes and scrutiny on those who live in the red zone feels like further victimization, some Northern Colorado fire survivors say.

“We paid more for where we lived anyhow,” said Dale Snyder, who lost his home to the High Park Fire last year and is planning to rebuild. “They are going to try to penalize us for living up here. Are they going to penalize people who live in hail-prone areas?”

Wildfires are not cheap. They cost money to fight and prevent, money to clean up and money to insure. But money is tight in the current economy, and firefighting has become one of the greatest expenses shouldered by the U.S. Forest Service. The agency can no longer afford to spend a third of its already insufficient wildfire budget saving homes; nor can it spend the money necessary to reverse decades of fire suppression in forests, Solley said.

Fires need to burn, and they will, environmental experts say. But it might be too late to get out of Mother Nature’s way. Instead, the governor’s task force wants Coloradans to be prepared for the inevitable, with more money for firefighting, safer homes and healthier forests.

“You are never going to eliminate totally the risk of wildfire,” said Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, who chaired the task force. The task force’s goal is to arm residents with information, Kelley said. “Information in my view is power. We want to make the problems transparent.”

People living in Colorado’s mountains and forests — wildfire zones — have already found themselves subject to restrictions following the state’s past two destructive wildfire seasons.

Some, like Snyder and Solley, have embraced what measures they can use to secure their homes — thin the forest around their homes and use noncombustible building materials. Some cities have passed new fire codes, and Larimer County now requires home plans to have the approval of the county fire marshal.

The task force’s idea to create a statewide fire code doesn’t seem “unreasonable,” said Phil Benstein with the NoCo Rebuiling Network, a nonprofit founded after the Crystal Fire in 2011.

“In fact, there are other communities that already have some of those building standards,” Benstein said. “Some of them weren’t so outlandish.”

Already, Larimer County has some of the most developed wildfire zones in the state, next to Boulder County. But, Larimer also has some of the most room to grow when it comes to developing mountain communities, according to Headwaters Economics, a Montana-based research group that analyzes development in the West.

There are 5,878 homes in Larimer County’s wildland urban interface — a blanket term for neighborhoods in or near the wilderness — half of which are second homes, according to Headwaters Economics data.

The task force suggested a Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment Plan be done for each home in the red zone. Each home and property would be evaluated from a firefighting standpoint — how easily could trucks and water be brought to the home, and how well would the home survive on its own. The assessment would give each home a rating, from the lowest risk at one to the highest risk at 10. Any number at five or higher would require another in-depth assessment.

Although they embrace preparing their homes, a few residents of Larimer County’s mountain communities feel singled out. They point out that hail damage in Colorado has cost insurance companies more than wildfire destruction.

“I pay for their hail damage,” said Snyder, speaking of taxes. “That’s what’s bothersome. They are trying to single this out. The true sad thing is, all the damage from the fires, it’s a drop in the bucket.”

Benstein, who is also a Rist Canyon volunteer firefighter and resident, feels the definition of “wildland urban interface” in Colorado is broad and encompasses much more territory than people think.

“What isn’t the wildland urban interface in Colorado? When we talk about it like it’s some special place, it’s really the majority of Colorado,” he said.

Benstein thinks charging fees for living in the red zone is “ridiculous” and unfair, at least unfair until other disaster-prone areas are subject to the same treatment, he said.

For Solley, chief of the Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District, fees are not outlandish, however unpopular. Solley pays $115 a year for a house in California, where red-zone homes are taxed.

“I’m retired; any time you increase fees and taxes, that doesn’t make the retirement community happy. But I chose to live here. I take the risk of losing my home in a wildfire,” he said.

He can’t deny that protecting homes during a wildfire is expensive.

“Had there not been any homes in the High Park area, they wouldn’t have taken as many resources, they would have let the majority of it burn. It (homes) increases the cost of the fire,” he said.

But who does bear the burden of protecting Colorado’s mountain towns from wildfire?

As in High Park, firefighters often can’t reach homes; instead, properties often have to stand on their own, Solley said. Insurance companies often place the burden of fire-proofing on residents, without offering much guidance to what needs to be done, said Amy Bach, director of the nonprofit insurance advocacy group United Policyholders.

The task force takes a “holistic approach,” Kelley said, and expects homeowners, firefighters, governments and insurance companies to work together. And until the task force’s suggestions are discussed publicly, change is far down the road, Kelley said.

 


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