Proposed WUI Standards of Coverage Offer 'NFPA 1710 for Wildlands'
Before 2003, most of California's worst-case disaster scenarios revolved around earthquakes. But over the last five years, our state has increasingly become associated with another kind of disaster - catastrophic wildland fires.
As development has spread into areas once viewed as wilderness, the traditional standards of coverage for the wildlands just don't apply anymore. Recognizing this new reality, a team of front-line firefighters and fire management has drafted a new Standard of Cover for the Wildland Urban Interface.
"We can't go on 'fighting the last war' when it comes to protecting our state from catastrophic fire," said CPF President Lou Paulson.
The proposed standards of cover provide model staffing and response times for initial attack in the WUI. The goal is "to keep all WUI fires to ten acres or less 95 percent of the time with no additional structure ignitions after the arrival of the first initial attack assignment." The interface area is broken down to one housing unit per acre to one housing unit per five acres.
In any WUI area under a Red Flag warning, the standards call for:
- First engine within eight (8) minutes
- Four additional engines within the next ten (10) minutes
- First aircraft within 20 minutes
- Full response (including command staff, air tankers and Type I, II and III engines) within one hour
For areas defined as being under extreme fire risk, the response is accelerated to approach the NFPA 1710 standard for urban structure fires. The standard also includes recommended response in high-risk situations where the weather isn't covered by a Red Flag warning.
"As fire professionals, it is our responsibility to tell legislators and the governor what we need to respond to California's menacing fire risk," said CDF Firefighters President Bob Wolf.
The final version of the Standards of Cover will be presented through the Blue Ribbon Task Force to Governor Schwarzenegger, CAL FIRE and FireScope.