Fire Hazards The Town of Fairfax is at risk from two types of fire: urban fire and wildland fire. Although large urban conflagrations of the past, such as the Chicago Fire of the mid-1800 s, caused significant loss of life and property, improvements in architecture, building design, construction materials, and emergency response have helped to reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence. However, a large fire affecting the Town of Fairfax could still occur due to many causes, such as a spreading wildfire, an earthquake, gas leak, or arson. Given the trend toward infill development on the steep hillsides and canyons of Fairfax, urban fire remains a risk to life and property. Other factors affecting the spread of urban structural fires include: construction material density/proximity of structures access roads response time availability of water wind velocity and direction Wildland/urban interface (WUI) fire hazards are especially pronounced in areas of high structure densities adjacent to undeveloped open space areas with dense vegetation. These areas often contain older summer homes that have been converted to permanent residences, infilled with more modern construction, and are often situated on steep terrain with narrow winding roads. Wildland/urban interface fires result in death, injury, economic loss and a large public investment in fire fighting activities. Wildfires can be caused by natural events, such as lightning or high winds. However, most wildland fires are human caused. Campfires, careless smokers, electrical sparks, and arson cause most wildland and wildland/urban interface fires. An emerging cause for concern is fires started by mowing and use of power equipment around very dry vegetation. Wildfire behavior is based on three primary factors: weather, topography and fuel. Wildland fire season in Fairfax and in surrounding Marin County spans the months after the last spring rains have fallen and until the first fall or winter rains occur. The months of August, September and October have the greatest potential for wildland fires as vegetation dries out, humidity levels fall, and off shore winds blow. However, during years of reduced rainfall, the risk of wildfire can start several months earlier and continue until rain resumes. The Wildfire Hazard Map prepared by WMRT for the Environmental Safety Element in 1976(?) delineated the areas of extreme wildfire hazard based upon the following characteristics: 1. grassland or shrub vegetation; 2. slopes of 31 percent and greater and having limited access; and, 3. unavailability of adequate fire fighting water supply. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies fuels for its fuel model which is designed to assess fire danger as follows. Heavy fuel is vegetation consisting of round wood three to eight inches in diameter Medium fuel is vegetation consisting of round wood one-third to three inches in diameter
Light fuel is vegetation consisting of herbaceous plants and round wood less than one quarter inch in diameter. CAL FIRE has developed an estimate of fire risk in WUI areas that is consistent with the National Fire Plan methods but is more refined in terms of both mapping extent and quantification of risk. CAL FIRE uses spatial data to distinguish fire-related characteristics from assets and applies spatial rules for determining relative risk of loss. Terms such as high, very high, and extreme indicate threat levels, with extreme being the highest level. CAL FIRE uses this information to identify fire threats and superimposes on this map a spatial representation of housing unit density based on 2000 census data. (see www.frap.cdf.ca.gov/assessment2003 for additional information on the methodology). Maps were developed at the County level for both State Responsibility Areas (SRAs) and Local Responsibility Areas (LRAs). The Town of Fairfax, because it is incorporated and maintains its own fire service through the Ross Valley Fire Department is mapped as a LRA. The surrounding unincorporated area is mapped as an SRA. CAL FIRE updated the Fire Severity Zone Maps and published the new draft maps in May 2008. Two CAL FIRE maps showing the Town of Fairfax and surrounding areas are shown below. The maps indicate that the incorporated area of Fairfax lies in a high fire hazard severity zone, with the exception of a portion of the most northern part of Fairfax, which is undeveloped and classified as a moderate fire hazard severity zone. The SRA map shows most of the unincorporated land adjacent to the Town of Fairfax as a moderate fire hazard severity zone. A notable exception is the southwestern area in the vicinity of the White s Hill and Cascade Canyon Open Space Preserves. Both state and federal fire risk mapping efforts may underestimate the true fire hazard for the Town of Fairfax because they do not take into account the specific vegetation types present in Fairfax and the surrounding area in their fuel model calculations. The models are based on a 50 acre grid which does not allow for the level of detail necessary to assess the local hazard. Additionally, the risk may be under-represented because Fairfax does not experience many days of high temperatures on an annual basis. Although the number of days Fairfax is exposed to fire weather is limited, when those conditions exist, the fire danger is extremely high. Additional factors that may contribute to a higher threat risk in Fairfax are the narrow roads, narrow roads, house to house proximity, vegetation along the road, access, steepness, and difficulty of staging equipment. The Town of Fairfax Emergency Operations Plan identifies steep hill neighborhoods, such as the Cascades, Forrest/Hillside, Oak Manor hills, and Willow/Upper Ridgeway at the greatest risk from wildland fire due to the dense vegetation, trees dead/dying of Sudden Oak Death, and the narrow access roads. The Vegetation/Fuels Management Plan prepared by the Ross Valley Fire Department in January 2008, includes a hazard assessment matrix to be used when evaluating specific properties. The matrix includes three factors: aspect, slope, and fuel. The fuels are representative of local vegetation, including specimen gardens, grass, brush, conifers, hardwoods, and chaparral.
Fire History It is likely that over the centuries, wildland fires occurred in Fairfax and the surrounding areas as part of the natural ecosystem, clearing dead scrub and brush and contributing to the healthy growth of fire dependent species. Once the area became more developed, these fires were considered a threat to life and property and were more actively controlled. Two historic fires that impacted the Fairfax area more than a century ago were documented in local papers. October 25, 1890. The Morning Oregonian reported that "for the past 10 days a forest fire had been raging in the Coast Range Mountains between San Rafael and Bolinas, Marin County. Over 8, 000 acres has burned and the fire is still burning in an easterly direction. Eight bridges on the road between San Rafael and Bolinas (Bolinas-Fairfax Rd.) have been burned down. The mail is being carried across Mount Tamalpais by Pony Express. Over 200 men are engaged in fighting the fire." (Marin County Fire Department History) September 14, 1904. The Marin Journal reports "One of the most disastrous forest fires commenced on Bolinas Ridge behind the Hasbrouck property. Fanned by northerly winds flames rushed westward over the ridge to the McCurdy and Wilkins ranches, then south through the Bourne, Morse, and Stintson ranches. Many buildings on the Hasbrouck ranch were destroyed as was the Summit House. The county road from Wilkins to the summit was littered with burning logs and loose rock obstructions, all culverts and bridges were destroyed. To the east the winds were erratic first the fire would drive toward Camp Taylor then Pine Hill and then into Cascade Canyon. Sheriff Taylor took a number of men into the hills to keep the flames away from county bridges." (Marin County Fire Department History) Other historic fires have occurred in Marin County in the past 100 years. The largest fire was in September 1923, which burned 40,000 acres from Lucas Valley to Bolinas. This same fire burned 35 homes in Woodacre Later that same year, the Tavern complex on the Summit of Mount Tamalpais burned to the ground. The second largest fire occurred in 1936 and burned 4,000 acres. The third largest in October 1917 on the ridge west of Inverness burned 2,000 acres. The fourth largest and the most disastrous from a monetary standpoint was the July 1929 Mill Valley fire. It burned 1,000 acres and destroyed 110 homes in Mill Valley. Damage was more than one million dollars. More recently, the Mount Vision Fire that occurred in October of 1995, burned more than 12,000 acres of Point Reyes National Seashore in West Marin County and destroyed 48 homes. From this record, it would appear that wildland-urban interface fire is less frequent in Fairfax than in many other parts of California, and thus is not a major threat. Conversely, the absence of significant fires near the population centers of Marin County has allowed the build up of highly flammable fuel, and thus increased the potential for catastrophic wildland fires in the future. An added concern is the potential impacts of global warming. A recent report issued by the California Climate Change Center indicates that global warming is expected to increase the risk of wildfire and alter the distribution and character of natural vegetation. The probability of a large wildfire (more than 200 hectares) is projected to increase eleven to fifty-five percent, depending on whether the warming range results in a wetter or a drier climate.
State and Local Controls There are currently four codes/standards applicable to the Wildland-Urban Interface fire hazard. These are Public Resources Code Section 4291, the 2001 California Fire Code (which amends the 1997 Uniform Fire Code), National Fire Protection Association Standard 1144-Protection of Life and Property from Wildfire, and the International Urban-Wildland Interface Code. The 2001 California Building Code does not specifically address this hazard. In December 2007, the Fairfax Town Council adopted Ordinance No. 730, which included the following actions: 1. Adopted the California Fire Code, International Fire Code, and Uniform Fire Code prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to life and property from fire or explosion; 2. Providing for the issuance of permits for hazardous uses or operations and establishing a Fire Prevention Bureau and providing officers therefor and defining their powers and duties; 3. Creating Chapter 8.06 of the Town Municipal Code adopting the 2006 Edition of the International Wildland Urban Interface Code regulating and governing the mitigation of hazard to life and property from the intrusion of fire from wildland exposures and from adjacent structures, and prevention of structure fires from spreading to wildland fuels in the Town of Fairfax. Significant provisions of the Wildland-Urban Interface Code include requiring ignition resistant siding (one-hour fire stop); requiring a vegetation management plan, and providing the Fire Chief discretionary authority to require up to a 150 foot clearance around residential structures. Fire Services The Town of Fairfax is served by the Ross Valley Fire Department (RVFD), which is a consolidated fire agency protecting the communities of Fairfax, San Anselmo, and Sleepy Hollow. Station 21 is located at 10 Park Road in Fairfax, and is staffed with a Captain and a Engineer/Firefighter, one of which is a Paramedic. The station houses one first due Type 1 engine and one Type 3 (wildland) engine. The RVFD also has a contract with the County of Marin to provide fire protection services to County areas contiguous to the Ross Valley Fire jurisdiction, and is an active participant in the County and Statewide Mutual Aid System. The RVFD web site (http://www.rossvalleyfire.org/) provides valuable information about emergency preparedness, fire resistant plant materials, and fire protection standards, including an ordinance governing residential fire sprinklers adopted in August 2008. The RVFD has developed the required Vegetation/Fuels Management Plan which can be found at: http://www.rossvalleyfire.org/uploadfiles/vegetation-management-plan.pdf. The plan defines clearance distances, type of vegetation and topographic features which determine adequate green belts and fire fuel breaks around structures. The primary purpose of the vegetation/fuels
management plan is to provide time for fire suppression personnel and equipment to respond and establish operational tactics and strategies during an ensuing wildland fire. The Marin Municipal Water District has adopted minimum fire flow standards of 1,000 gallons per minute, as specified by Title 22 of the State of California, Administrative Code. - Considerations for Planning 1. Steep canyons and narrow roads increase risk and may inhibit response efforts. 2. Narrow roads may cause difficulties for fire apparatus access during resident egress. 3. Existing rights of way and pedestrian trails mapped by the Fairfax Volunteers could provide valuable informal evacuation routes. 4. One of three proposed emergency warning sirens have been installed. Identifying a technically and socially acceptable location for a siren for the high risk Cascade Canyon Neighborhood is problematic. Protocols for response actions at the neighborhood level must be developed and disseminated to maximize the effectiveness of the warning sirens. 5. Global warming projections anticipate from 11 to 55% increase in incidence of large wildland fires in California. 6. Global warming and higher temperatures may benefit local tree species such as the Coast Live Oak, Toyon and Valley Oak. 7. Older building materials such as wood shake roofs and siding increase the potential for fire spread and new fire ignitions 8. Drought years intensify fire risk from dried out grasses and other vegetation. 9. Diseases such as sudden oak death and pine pitch canker contribute to the wildland/urban interface fire risk. 10. Fire following earthquake is of concern, particularly during the periods of high temperatures, low humidity and high winds. 11. No large fires have occurred in open space areas adjacent to Fairfax for more than twenty years, thus increasing the fuel load and fire risk. 12. The long-term environmental effects of fire can be positive (i.e., reduces fuel load, promotes new growth) and negative (i.e., destroys habitat, impact on local creeks) 13. The Town of Fairfax has no overt responsibility for vegetation management or fuel reduction activities in open space lands adjacent to the Town jurisdictional boundary.
14. Vegetation management programs conducted in partnership with Marin Open Space and Marin Municipal Water District are effective and desirable in reducing the wildland-urban interface risk. 15. The most effective mitigation measure is reducing the fuel load and creating defensible space. 16. Increasing public awareness of wildland fire and developing stronger preventive measures is essential to reducing the risk. 17. Fire Safe Councils, such as Fire Safe Marin, are important community planning efforts. 18. Fuel descriptions used by Cal Fire as a critical input to fire threat maps are not appropriate for the Town of Fairfax and the surrounding area. 19. Non-native vegetation contributes to fire risk. Invasion of non-native species often occurs at the urban-wildland interface. Some of the species common in Fairfax that may contribute to the spread of fires include Scotch broom, French and Spanish thistle, exotic annual grasses, acacias, and eucalyptus. 20. There are inherent conflicts between the Town Fire Ordinance and the Tree Ordinance. 21. Fire prevention is critical and more cost effective than relying solely on response. 22. Fire prevention techniques, such as planting native species and using fire resistant landscaping can also be consistent with other values such as erosion control and aesthetics. 23. Cantilevered houses on hillsides and those constructed with overhangs and decks are at risk. 24. Residential parking on one lane roads is a serious impediment to fire apparatus access and evacuation egress. 25. The Town of Fairfax has adopted the most current Fire Codes.
Goals and Policies Goal: Protect people and property from risks associated with urban and wildland fire Policies Fuel/Vegetation Management & Defensible Space 1. Identify basic vegetation types common to the Town of Fairfax and write a prescription for each type on how to manage that vegetation. Standardize and simplify defensible space guidelines and disseminate to public for implementation. 2. Seek geographic and programmatic expansion of fuel management programs in Fairfax through the Marin County Vegetation Management Plan. Activities include, but are not limited to: shaded fuel breaks, road collection and chipping, mechanical fuel reduction equipment, selected harvesting, use of goats or other organic methods of fuel reduction, and selected use of controlled burning. Target areas include, but are not limited to: western interface with Camp Tama Rancho, interface at end of Cascade Canyon, and down ridge to Bolinas-Fairfax Road. 3. Fire-resistant landscape improvements, including plantscaping and/or hardscaping, within defensible space zones shall be exempt from increased property tax assessments. 4. Apply for grants through Fire Safe Marin for model xeriscapes appropriate to the Fairfax community. 5. Establish a Fire Hazard Abatement District to fund fire risk reduction activities for existing development through vegetation management that includes reducing fuel loads, increasing defensible space, constructing and maintaining fuel breaks, and public education. 6. Ensure that fire-preventive vegetation management techniques and practices for creek sides and high-slope areas do not contribute to the landslide and erosion hazard. Access/Egress & Response 1. Ensure all dead-end segments of public roads in high hazard areas have at least a T intersection turn-around sufficient for Ross Valley Fire Department equipment and mutual aid wildland fire equipment. 2. Develop and enforce a parking plan for the purpose of emergency vehicle access and egress. 3. Require that development in high fire hazard areas provide adequate access roads (with width and vertical clearance that meet the minimum standards of the Fire Code or relevant local ordinance), onsite fire protection systems, evacuation signage, and fire breaks.
4. Identify critical fire roads maintained by Marin County or other jurisdictions and ensure access by Ross Valley Fire Department emergency equipment. 5. Periodically inspect fire roads and/or public right-of-way roads to keep them passable for emergency equipment during high fire season, including access/egress and turnaround. Enforce code requirements for privately maintained roads or driveways accessing more than three properties to ensure emergency access and egress. 6. Develop a fire evacuation plan for the highest fire hazard areas, including those areas with limited access/egress, dead-end roads, one-lane roads, and steep canyons. Plan should include potential evacuation routes, design of a warning system, and public education and training. 7. Promote the installation of early warning fire alarm system in Fairfax residences that are connected to fire department communication systems 8. Enforce street signage and street address signage codes to facilitate emergency response. 9. Review fire safety, evacuation, and emergency vehicle access when considering proposals to add secondary units or additional residential units in wildland-urban-interface fire-threatened communities or in areas exposed to high-to-extreme fire threat. 10. Require a reliable source of water for fire suppression as dictated by municipal code for existing and new development through plan review and hydrant fire flow monitoring program. 11. Continue a coordinated approach between the jurisdictions and water supply agencies to identify needed improvements to the water distribution system, initially focusing on areas of highest wildfire hazard. (MMWD/MCFD/RVFD) 12. Identify nearest source of portable water systems that may be used to supplement existing fire suppression water systems. Code Development & Enforcement 1. Enforce provisions of the California Building and Fire Codes and municipal housing codes that require the installation of smoke detectors and/or fire-extinguishing systems by making installation a condition for the transfer of property, or issuance of an occupancy permit for new construction or substantial remodels. 2. Adopt and/or amend, as needed, updated versions of the California Building and Fire Codes so that optimal fire-protection standards are used in construction and renovation projects. 3. Require that new homes or substantial remodels constructed in high fire hazard areas be constructed of fire-resistant building materials required by code, and incorporate fire resistant
design features, such as one-hour fire-stop wall assemblies, and one-hour fire-stop boxed eaves with maximum available ember proof roof venting, to increase structural survivability and reduce ignitability. 4. Require fire sprinklers in all new or substantially remodeled housing, regardless of distance from a fire station. 5. Require sprinklers in all mixed-use developments to protect residential uses from fires started in non-residential areas. 6. Compile a list of high-occupancy buildings deemed, due to their age or construction materials, to be particularly susceptible to fire hazards, and determine an expeditious timeline for the fire-safety inspection and installation of fire safety improvements in all such structures. 7. Require the bracing of water heaters and flexible couplings on gas appliances, the bolting of homes to their foundations and strengthening of cripple walls to reduce fire ignitions due to earthquakes for new construction, substantial remodel, and/or at point of sale. 8. Adopt an ordinance to require gas shut-off valves for multi-unit soft story structures to reduce the risk of post-earthquake fire ignitions and fire spread. 9. Conduct periodic fire-safety inspections of all commercial and institutional buildings. 10. Review development proposals to ensure that they incorporate a fire department approved defensible space plan and conduct inspections to ensure it is implemented prior to and maintained throughout construction. 11. Enforce parking restrictions on one lane roads during the fire season, and particularly on red flag days.
Glossary Aspect Fuel Global Warming LRAs Red flag days Slope SRAs Wildfire WUI This is the direction in which the face of the slope is situated. Vegetation type Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century, and its projected continuation. Local Responsibility Areas Days in which the possibility of a Brush Fire is increased due to an increase in wind speed above 25 mph, decrease in humidity below 15%, and elevated temperatures. This is the degree of angle on the site. State Responsibility Areas An uncontrolled fire spreading through vegetative fuels, exposing and possibly consuming structures. Wildand-Urban Interface: areas where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels.