# Boulder considers code changes for neighorhoods in fire danger



## mark handler (Jul 1, 2012)

Boulder considers code changes for neighorhoods in fire danger

By Erica Meltzer Camera Staff Writer Boulder Daily Camera

Posted: DailyCamera.com

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_20980853/boulder-considers-code-changes-neighorhoods-fire-danger

Preparing a home for fire season

Remove overhanging branches on trees near the home

Rake up dead leaves or pine needles near the home

Mow tall grass around your home

Prune overgrown shrubs to remove dead leaves and branches.

Remove dead leaves from gutters and roofs

Remove lower tree branches that are close to the ground.

Maintain equipment for home repair and upkeep. Make sure hoses are free of holes and in good working order. Fuel lawnmowers away from dry grass.

Source: Firewise Communities

Henry Mueller's second-story deck, surrounded by trees, leaves him feeling like he's in a tree house. It also leaves his house more vulnerable if a fire ever sweeps into Shanahan Ridge from the adjacent open space.

"It's really nice to go out and sit there because there are trees close to my house," Mueller said. "It's a great feeling, but I've created a fire hazard."

Later this year, the Boulder City Council will consider adopting new regulations for what's called the wildland-urban interface -- city neighborhoods that abut open space -- which will address everything from building materials to vegetation near homes.

The updated Fire-Rescue Master Plan, adopted last month by City Council, calls on the city to adopt a code based on the Wildland-Urban Interface Code developed by the International Code Council, the nonprofit organization that provides uniform guidelines on everything from plumbing to energy conservation.

The extensive pre-evacuation notices issued in south Boulder last week for the Flagstaff Fire and the destruction wreaked in Colorado Springs by the Waldo Canyon Fire highlight the vulnerability of urban neighborhoods along the Front Range.

This year is not the first time homes within Boulder city limits have been threatened. Portions of Mapleton Hill and other older, central-Boulder neighborhoods were evacuated two years ago for the Fourmile Fire and again for the Dome Fire a couple months later.

Boulder Fire Chief Larry Donner said Boulder is much less vulnerable than Colorado Springs. The open space around the city creates defensible space and gives firefighters room to build firebreaks. Boulder homes also don't go as high on the slopes, which makes them easier to defend and protects them from ash and embers drifting downhill.

"Overall, I think the community has shown some foresight," Donner said. "We don't have as far to move as a number of communities in the Front Range. It's appropriate to be concerned because the hazard is high right now, but I don't think we have the same degree of risk."

Rethinking nearby trees and decks

Some of the recommendations in the code have already been adopted in Boulder, Donner said. Nearly 20 years ago, the city started phasing out wood-shingle roofs. One of the other recommendations in the master plan is to identify the remaining wood-shingle roofs and make sure are they replaced with more fire-resistant materials

Other elements of the code could mean significant changes, like limiting trees near homes, restricting the types of trees that could be planted in yards and restricting wood decks, especially second-story decks.

Overhanging tree branches increase the chances that a fire could spread to a roof. Raised wooden decks could ignite an entire house if an ember lands underneath them.

Currently, Boulder fire and building code officials are in the process of comparing the standard requirements in the International Code Council's recommended code with Boulder's code and Boulder's specific circumstances, Donner said.

Recommended code changes are expected to be presented to the Planning Board and City Council this fall. As with most code changes, the immediate effect on existing homes will be limited, with requirements being phased in over time.

Donner said the adoption of code changes could also obligate the fire department to begin talking to homeowners about landscaping and trees. Donner said he expects more education and negotiation with homeowners, rather than black-and-white mandates, but some of the conversations will be difficult, he said.

"There are some things that people may not want to hear, but they need to be honest with themselves," he said. "If you have that pine tree that's right next to your house and you love to hear its branches on the roof as you go to sleep, that's probably not the best idea."

The code also will look at types of vegetation. Juniper trees, for example, burn particularly quickly.

Creation of a code

The first wildland-urban interface code was developed nearly 20 years ago after devastating wildfires burned through southern California, said Dan Bailey, director of wildland fire programs for the code council.

Over time, they've been revised to incorporate new research about fire behavior and new building materials.

More than 70,000 communities across the United States lie in the wildland-urban interface, and some 7,000 jurisdictions, including Boulder County, have adopted some version of the interface code, Bailey said.

"I think people are starting to understand more because they're seeing what's happening around the country, and they're seeing that it makes a difference," Bailey said. "They're seeing where firefighters are able to save a house where the homeowners have done something to improve the odds compared to some homes that couldn't be saved."

Balancing types of preservation

Catherine Schweiger has been prepared several times to evacuate from her home in Mapleton Hill, one of the neighborhoods firefighters consider more at-risk because there is less defensible space between the open space and homes.

She said she's glad the city is taking a closer look at regulations for neighborhoods like hers, but doing so might mean also relaxing some of the historic district requirements.

"Making changes to this historic district for fire reasons is totally appropriate," she said. "There's that balance of preservation against another type of preservation."

Billy Schweiger, her son, has been working on a remodel to his non-historic home that lies within the historic district and had difficulty getting permission to install a metal roof. In previous fires, he's had embers falling on his roof from open space.

"This summer has continued to open everyone's eyes to the kind of precarious situation communities like ours and neighborhoods like mine are in," he said. "The governance needs to balance lots of competing things. The pressing danger to life and property should probably trump the more academic concerns about the historic perfectness of some of these neighborhoods."

Some changes are easier to contemplate than others, though.

Catherine Schweiger has a juniper and a spruce tree right by the northwest corner of her house. Those two species, along with Douglas firs, can be found in almost every yard in Mapleton Hill and go back to the founding of the neighborhood.

"I'd rather be required to install a sprinkler system on my roof than take my trees down," she said.

'Clearly, we are at risk'

Mueller, of Shanahan Ridge, is an architectural designer who has designed homes in the Fourmile burn area in compliance with the county's rigorous wildfire mitigation requirements, and he's well aware of the fire danger in his own neighborhood.

To create the space for the private greenbelt that runs through Shanahan Ridge, homes in the neighborhood are closer together. That alone increases the risk of fire spreading from house to house. It also means trees tend to be close to structures.

Mueller has a two-foot gravel firebreak between his backyard and the private open space, and he uses his sprinklers to water open space and his treetops.

He estimates that 10 to 20 percent of his neighbors take similar protective measures. Cutting down trees would be painful -- and he's not sure it's always necessary -- but it's a conversation that has to be had, he said.

"We do have to have community education within the city, like they do in the mountain communities, about the vulnerabilities and what we should and shouldn't be doing," Mueller said.

Jere Eggleston, an architect who serves with Mueller on the neighborhood's architectural review committee, said that very few homes in Shanahan Ridge comply with the model wildland-urban interface code.

"How the city would adapt the defensible space concepts in the code would be what will most concern people," he said. "Decks and landscaping are pretty near and dear to a lot of people."

At the same time, he's under no illusions about the threat posed by wildfire. He was on vacation in Durango when the Flagstaff Fire broke out. He could see smoke from the Weber Fire there from his bed and breakfast. When he headed home in response to the pre-evacuation notice, he drove through Colorado Springs on I-25 as the Waldo Canyon Fire consumed more than 300 homes there.

"It's something that individual homeowners and the city needs to take very seriously," he said. "I just think there are going to be a lot of conflicting interests that will make crafting effective legislation difficult. I'm concerned about an overreaction. At the same time, clearly we are at risk. We need to find the right balance to address that."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355 or meltzere@dailycamera.com.


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