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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSS3 - Newport Coast Fuel Modification ProgramCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT Study Session Item / /ss3 November 12, 2002 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: FIRE DEPARTMENT Timothy Riley, Fire Chief, 949 - 644 -3101, triley @city.newport- beach.ca.us SUBJECT: Newport Coast Fuel Modification Program OBJECTIVE To inform the public and City Council on the fire hazards associated with structures existing and constructed adjacent to open wildland areas and the methods used to reduce those hazards. BACKGROUND Since the late 1980s, the City of Newport Beach Fire Department has been working toward mitigating the significant fire hazards associated with homes in and around the City's wildland urban interface areas. This effort parallels efforts throughout the United States as a result of fires that have destroyed homes and communities that are adjacent to these areas. A wildland area is a large mass of natural growing vegetation, which may include grasses, brush, or trees and typically will contain several types of these plant materials. An urban wildland interface area (UWI) is that portion of a wildland area immediately adjacent to structures or communities that would carry fire from the wildland area into the structures. To reduce the risk of fire destroying these structures, strategies have been developed to try to reduce the fuels in these areas and decrease the possibility of a major fire impacting the community. The need for these mitigation efforts were punctuated by the devastating losses associated with the October 27, 1993, Laguna Canyon fire. In the aftermath of that tragedy, Newport Beach fire officials, in cooperation with federal, state, county, and other local officials, began analyzing the conditions that allowed this fire and others to occur. Newport Coast Fuel Modification Program November 12, 2002 Page 2 WHAT IS HAZARD REDUCTION AND FUEL MODIFICATION AND WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE The City of Newport Beach employs two different methods for reducing the risk of fire in these wildland interface areas: hazard reduction and fuel modification. Both methodologies use the principle of reducing the amount of combustible fuel available, which reduces the amount of heat, associated flame lengths, and the intensity of the fire that would threaten the adjoining structures. Hazard Reduction Hazard reduction reduces the amount of fuel within 100 feet of any structure, thus creating a defensible space used to slow the rate and intensity of an advancing wildfire and to create an area for firefighters to suppress the fire and save the structure. The City standards for hazard reduction includes the requirements for maintaining existing trees, shrubs, and ground cover in this 100 feet setback zone. Dead or dying foliage shall be removed as well as dead trees, shrubs, and ground cover. Roofs shall be cleared of leaves, needles, twigs, and other combustible materials. Chimneys shall be equipped with an approved spark arrester. Existing trees are not required to have a separation of tree canopies but new trees shall be planted such that mature canopies will have a minimum separation of ten feet. The lowest tree branch shall be at least three times as high as the shrub when a shrub is located within the dripline of a tree. The City, in cooperation with the Orange County Fire Authority, has developed a list of trees, bushes, shrubs, and ground cover that will slow the progress and intensity of a wildfire and not contribute to the fire load. These plants are listed in the City's Fire Resistive Plant List. In hazard reduction areas, any new plant materials must be from this approved plant list. This requirement applies only to those areas of the property, which face the hazardous fire area. In addition, every property located within 100' of a hazardous fire area is required to maintain a three -foot wide clear path for ingress and egress on each side of the structure for fire department access in a fire. Fuel Modification Some areas of Newport Beach, and specifically Newport Coast, are communities that are required to comply with fuel modification requirements. These requirements are imposed when a new community or development is proposed adjacent to a wildland area. In Newport Coast, the Orange County Fire Authority has the responsibility for reviewing and approving fuel modification zones and the inspection of the installation of Newport Coast Fuel Modification Program November 12, 2002 Page 3 these zones. The City of Newport Beach has the responsibility for ensuring that these areas are maintained in accordance with that plan. A fuel modification zone is a ribbon of land surrounding the homes designed to diminish the intensity of a wildfire as it approaches the homes. A fuel modification zone differs from a hazard reduction zone through a combination of methodologies, including the removal of native vegetation replaced with fire resistive plant species, as well as the reduction of amount of native combustible vegetation. The minimum width of a fuel modification zone is 170 feet. These areas may be owned by individual property owners or by a homeowners association. In the case of Newport Coast, local homeowners associations own the majority of the fuel modification areas. This ribbon of land is most often divided into four zones. The four zones are referred to as the A, B, C, and D zones. The A zone is closest to the homes and is the last twenty feet of the back yard of the private residences. The B, C, and D zones lie outside the fence line and are within the common area owned by an association. Builuing setback should he Property Line sufficmt to accomodate patio covers, gazebos, etc. m ® =Zone A Zone B Zane C e E +r Top of Slope 9 _ Newport Home J� _ = Zone D Property O Owner Maintained HOA Maintained The A zone is the defensible space where firefighters will set up hose lines to extinguish the approaching fire. The A zone includes ornamental plants and single specimen trees. All plants in this area are required to be irrigated and must be from the approved plant list. The B zone is the next 50 feet just outside the back fence line. This zone is an area where natural vegetation has been replaced by fire resistive, drought tolerant plants from an approved list. This B zone is permanently, automatically irrigated. Non - approved vegetation must be removed in this zone. The C and D Zones are the next 100 feet away from the homes. Each zone is a minimum of 50 feet in width. These zones are called the thinning zones. Natural Newport Coast Fuel Modification Program November 12, 2002 Page 4 vegetation is reduced to 50% in the C zone. In the D zone a thinning of 30% of natural vegetation occurs. In all zones any dead or dying material is removed. A way to imagine the thinning principle is in the 50% thinning zone (C zone) two people can walk around clumps of vegetation side by side. In a 30% thinning zone (D zone) two people would have to walk single file between clumps of natural vegetation. Certain fire prone species of vegetation are required to be removed when found in any of the four fuel modification zones. In addition to reduction of the vegetation hazards, areas regulated by the City's fuel modification requirements are also required to "harden" the structures immediately adjacent to the wildland area. This "hardening" is done by providing automatic fire sprinkler protection, installation of class "A" roof assemblies, installation of dual glazed windows, one -hour fire resistive construction on sides of the structure facing the wildland area, and the elimination of any combustible exterior structural elements (for example, patio covers). ORANGE COUNTY AND NEWPORT BEACH GUIDELINES In July 1994, the Orange County Wildland /Urban Interface Task Force Report was completed and shortly thereafter approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In a companion effort, the International Fire Code Institute formed a committee to begin to develop an Urban - Wildland Interface Code under the direction of the California State Fire Marshal. The first draft of this code was published in October 1995. In 1997, the City of Newport Beach adopted guidelines that mirrored the Orange County Fire Authority guidelines for hazard reduction and fuel modification. The guidelines for hazard reduction are applied to existing homes and structures in Newport Beach. Those areas include lower Buck Gully, Morning Canyon, the mouth of Big Canyon and properties adjacent to Spyglass Canyon. In total, 263 properties are maintained under those regulations. The guidelines for fuel modification have been applied to the new developments in Newport Coast. Currently 18 of the 27 developments have some form of fuel modification as part oft it project. 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