Fire Professionals
Weigh In
In 2020, a Fire Chiefs Working Group evaluated the Fire Safe Regulations (FSR) at the behest of the Board of Forestry. They made recommendations to preserve and strengthen the road standards, designed to protect the lives of firefighters and the public, which had been in place since 1991.
In January 2022, 21 bold Wildfire Professionals warned that bottlenecks on existing sub-standard roads would lead to catastrophic injury and deaths for firefighters, citizens, pets, and livestock.
SAFRR PRESS RELEASE February 2022
Fire Experts Warn Against State Board Changes to Fire Safe Regulations
Board of Forestry and Fire Protection Proposes Development on Unsafe Roads in Fire-Prone Areas
Contacts:
Doug Leisz, Associate Chief of the US Forest Service, Retired
David Hillman, Deputy Director Cal Fire, Fire Prevention & Law Enforcement, Retired
Mike Rogers, Former Forest Supervisor National Forests
Fire experts are calling on the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to reconsider proposals that weaken long-standing regulations to keep communities safe. At a time when climate change impacts are causing more intense and frequent wildfires with devastating loss to lives and property, Governor Newsom’s BOF is proposing major revisions that would substantially weaken State minimum fire safe regulations that were enacted in 1991.
Those regulations allowed for concurrent safe ingress of firefighting equipment and personnel, while also providing for safe civilian evacuations. As wildfires have become more prevalent, it is even more important to provide firefighters and civilians with minimum safety standards for evacuation routes. The Board of Forestry’s updated regulations do the exact opposite.
“I find it absurd that we are throwing tens of millions of dollars at our fire suppression capabilities but removing some of the safety and fire protection regulations that were developed in response to previous catastrophic and tragic events. The Board of Forestry’s updated regulations remove long-standing safety standards in high fire danger areas, which will likely risk fire fighter and civilian lives,” said David Hillman, retired Deputy Director of Cal Fire who participated in the drafting and implementation of the 1991 state minimum fire safe regulations.
The Fire Chiefs Working Group is a team of fire captains and marshals from across the state who were brought in to consult the BOF on safe fire management policies in 2020. They recommended maintaining a minimum 20’ roadway and reducing dead end roads from 1 mile to ½ mile in response to increasingly dangerous wildfires. Unfortunately, the BOF was considering ignoring the advice of the Fire Chiefs.
Recent wind-driven wildfires have proven that new construction design standards are not enough. Evacuation planning and practice using different evacuation routes are needed.
“Many of the existing communities in the highest fire severity zones were never designed to safely support their current housing, commercial, and industrial density, let alone additional development. Communities across the state need stronger regulations, not loopholes that would allow new development to be built on substandard unsafe roads,” said Doug Leisz, former Associate Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.
Insurance Commissioner Lara Weighs In: Given existing roads provide access to existing as well as new developments, the Insurance Commissioner warned that exempting existing roads and providing local government authority to reduce the standards will, “…put people in danger while increasing their insurance rates and/or reducing the availability of options for property.”
To help correct the issues with implementation, the California Attorney General’s office issued guidance for local and State lead agencies when assessing the impacts of approving new development in wildfire-prone areas.