Resolution No. 4814 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Table 9~6 Eugene Fire Data Brush, Grass, Wild,ands~ Outside of Structures2 Year Fires Damage Fires Damage 1997 119 $9,213 41 $10,868 1998 118 $6,363 64 $92,096 1999 138 $1,620 50 $41,375 2000 130 $1,764 47 $51,885 2001 109 $2,651 46 $18,575 2002 134 $3,277 72 $50,225 2003 141 $8,700 40 $43,730 Average 127 $4,798 51 $44,108 Excludes crops and timber. Excludes vehicles, includes outside storage, crops and timber. The vast majority of these fires are outside storage, rather than crops or timber. Ideally, historical fire data should suffice to estimate the annual probably for fires in the wildland/urban interface areas of Lane County. However, current data do not appear adequate to make credible calculations because the data for local, state, and federal responsibility areas are not commensurate and are not sortable by type of location (wildland, interface, developed areas). Nevertheless, the data reviewed above provide a general picture of the level of wildland/urban interface fire risk for Lane County overall. For the Eugene/Springfieid Metro Area in particular, the Lane County data provide a reasonable measure of long-term overall hazard level for wildland/urban interface fires. However, there are several reasons why the fire risk may be higher than suggested above, especially in developing wildland/urban interface areas. 1) Large fires may occur' infrequently, but statistically they will occur. One large fire could significantly change the statistics. In other words, 30 years of historical data may be too short to capture large, infrequent wildland fire events. A seismic analogy is the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake discussed in Chapter 10. This event has not occurred in the past 30 years and probably has not occurred since 1700. Nevertheless, large earthquakes have occurred in the past and are likely in the future. Thus, a 30-year record does not completely reflect the hazard from large earthquakes or large wildland fires. 2) The level of fire hazard depends profoundly on weather patterns. A several year drought period would substantially increase the probability of large wildland fires in Lane County. For smaller vegetation areas, with grass, brush and small trees, a much shorter drought period of a few months or less would substantially increase the fire hazard. 3) The level of fire hazard in wildland/urban interface areas, with the greatest risk for life safety and property, is likely significantly higher than for wildland areas as a whole. The probability of fires starting in interface areas is much higher than in wildland areas because of the much higher population density in Public Review Draft: August 6, 2004 9-16