Community Preparedness
Wildland-Urban Interface Modifications
Overview
The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is commonly described as the zone where structures and other human development meet and intermignle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels. This WUI zone poses tremendous risks to life, property, and infrastructure in associated communities and is one of the most dangerous and complicated situations firefighters face.
The safety of the citizens of any community is a shared responsibility between the citizens; the owner, developer, or association, and the local, county, state, and federal governments. The primary responsibility, however, remains at the citizen/owner and association level. Homeowners and property owners can find a wide variety of information on how to prepare your homes, property, and lives for wildfire on this website. Follow the links to the left to discover the educational tools specific to Utah.
To be put on the waitlist for a lot assessment once the program goes live, fill out this form:
General Questions
Definitions & Scope
Roles & Responsibilities
Assessments & Risk Reduction
Insurance & Impacts
Preparedness Checklist
Additional FAQs
Community Wildfire Preparedness Plans
The Purpose of Community Wildfire Preparedness Plans (CWPPs):
Community Wildfire Preparedness Plans are essential tools that outline strategies to address the risks of wildfire in the wildland urban interface through a collaborative planning process.
The 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) provided additional benefits for communities who develop CWPPs. Federal land management agencies are incentivized to incorporate local CWPP priorities into their forest management practices. Additionally, federal funding of hazardous fuel reduction projects under HFRA typically require the communities to have an active CWPP. Finally, communities who participate in Utah’s Cooperative Wildfire System (CWS) are required to have an active CWPP, which they draw from to implement annual preparedness, prevention and mitigation actions.
How to Develop a CWPP:
Creating a CWPP involves gathering community, state and federal stakeholders to outline what the wildfire risks are to the community, and creating a plan to mitigate those risks. Critically, these plans must prioritize hazardous fuel reduction and address the ignitability of structures, but may also include issues such as prevention of human caused wildfires, wildfire response and community preparedness in addressing the threat of wildfire. The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands can provide guidance on the process, data on the wildfire threat to the community, and a template for preparing the document.
A qualifying CWPP under the HFRA must meet the following minimum requirements:
COLLABORATION – HFRA requires the following three entities to be the decision-makers when developing a CWPP
- Local government(s) in the planning area,
- Local fire department(s), and
- Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
PRIORITIZED FUEL REDUCTION – Reducing the hazardous fuels (trees, shrubs and grasses) in the high-risk areas is essential to protecting communities from wildfire.
TREATMENT OF STRUCTURAL IGNITABILITY – Recommendations should be made to homeowners and included communities on home hardening against wildfire and creating defensible space around homes and structures. Adopting and enforcing the latest WUI code.
Resources
FFSL has provided a CWPP Template that is helpful for communities new to the process. The template encompasses additional components that paint a clearer picture of the wildfire risk, past accomplishments, and emergency preparedness for funding agencies. Utah’s Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan (CWPP) Template
For questions on the Community Fire Plan
please contact Jennifer McBride at [email protected]
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Funding Opportunities
The division provides funding opportunities for communities to prepare for and mitigate against wildfire. Visit our funding page to see what opportunities are available.