|
2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan
<br />Kittitas County, Washington
<br />
<br />
<br />Chapter 4: Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment 186
<br />In the State of Washington, the wildfire season usually begins in early July and ends with precipitation in
<br />late September, but wildfires have occurred in every month of the year. Drought, snowpack, and local
<br />weather conditions can affect the length of the fire season.
<br />Wildland Urban Interface
<br />The Kittitas County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) defines the concept of WUI as any area
<br />where a combination of human development and vegetation has potential to result in negative impacts
<br />from wildfire in the community. As more development extends deeper into these regions, the risk of
<br />wildfire interacting with these residences increases.
<br />
<br />The Kittitas County WUI boundary is approximately 1,018 square miles and covers 651,795 acres. Table
<br />4-139 outlines the County’s WUI planning area fire coverage.238F
<br />238
<br />Table 4-139. Wildland Urban Interface Planning Area Fire Coverage
<br />Planning Are Acres Fire District Coverage
<br />Eastern Kittitas County 109,854 Bureau of Land Management, Yakima Training Center, DNR,
<br />Vantage Fire Department, Kittitas Valley Fire & Rescue
<br />Kittitas Valley Upland 150,789 DNR, Kittitas Valley Fire & Rescue, USFS
<br />Swauk-Liberty 75,500 DNR, Kittitas County Fire District No. 7, USFS
<br />Manastash-Taneum 113,098 DNR, Kittitas Valley Fire & Rescue, USFS
<br />Teanaway 22,332 Kittitas County Fire District No. 7, DNR
<br />North Lake Cle Elum 23,170 Kittitas County Fire District No. 6, DNR, USFS
<br />Roslyn – Cle Elum 13,419 City of Roslyn FD, City of Cle Elum Fire Department, Kittitas
<br />County Fire District No. 7, DNR, USFS
<br />Domerie Flats 11,523 Kittitas County Fire District No. 7, DNR, USFS
<br />West Kittitas County 94,084 Kittitas County Fire District No. 51, Kittitas County Fire District
<br />No. 8, Kittitas County Fire District No. 7, DNR, USFS
<br />South Cle Elum 58,355 City of South Cle Elum Fire Department, Kittitas County Fire
<br />District No. 7, DNR, USFS
<br />
<br />Wildfire risk can be reduced using a number of different mitigation strategies like vegetation management
<br />and code development. In 2013, Kittitas County adopted the International Wildland Urban Interface Code
<br />(IWUIC) with amendments located in Kittitas County Code Title 20 and Appendix B: Vegetation
<br />Management Plan. This serves as a tool to mitigate wildland fire risk as vacant private land is converted
<br />to the build environment.239F
<br />239
<br />Wildfire Smoke
<br />A wildfire that is not within Kittitas County can impact the area with wildfire smoke, even when the wildfire
<br />is taking place thousands of miles away. Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of particles and gases (i.e.,
<br />carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds), and some of the compounds in
<br />wildfire smoke are known to be carcinogenic. Particulate matter (PM) in wildfire smoke is much finer than
<br />in urban air pollution, with the bulk of wildfire smoke PM less than one (1) micrometer in diameter.
<br />Furthermore, secondary pollutants are produced in wildfire smoke. Reactions between volatile organic
<br />
<br />238 Kittitas County Conservation District. (2018). Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Retrieved from
<br />https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/rp_burn_cwpp_kittitasco.pdf.
<br />239 Ibid.
|