Fire Mitigation

Good Neighbor Authority Solicitations 

 

Sandi Paul
Fire Mitigation Coordinator
208-983-3074
spaul@idahocounty.org

 

Administrated by the Office of the Board of County Commissioners

Idaho County has been offering vegetation manipulation on private properties in Idaho County since 2006.  The objective of the program is to remove ground fuel, small trees both conifers and deciduous trees up to 8 inches in strategic locations to lower fire risk and wildfire damage.  Treatment cannot totally fireproof the property but will greatly reduce the intensity of the fire, making it easier for firefighters to suppress.  No commercial size timber or large deciduous trees are removed from the treatment area.

The methods used to treat properties are mastication and hand cutting of vegetation.

Mastication is a method using machines with cutting heads that mulch the vegetation over the ground.  The result is a fine mulch that does not inhibit the growth of grass or other desirables.

Hand cutting is used when the topography of the ground is too steep for the mastication machines to operate.  Vegetation is cut and hand piled.  Property owners are responsible for burning of the piles within an allotted time given.

The county asks that the owners of the treated property maintain the vegetation manipulation for a period of at least 10 years.  This can be done through herbicides and or cutting of the ground vegetation that may return after treatment.

The program is a 20% cost share to the property owner of the contract price.    This program is a onetime treatment to the current owner and the area to be treated is determined by a site evaluation by Idaho County Fire Mitigation Coordinator.  Bare properties will be on a case by case basis as determined by the Idaho County Commissioners through the Mitigation office.  No more that 10 acres shall be treated per property.

The Idaho County Fire Mitigation Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the county fire and fuel management program.  Coordinator helps property and homeowners who live in the wildland/urban interface identify  vegetation ladder fuels on their property and bring awareness to what measures can be taken to reduce and mitigate the vegetation hazard in the event of wildfires.  Fuel reduction projects  are authorized by the Board of Commissioners.

The coordinator works with private landowners, various State and Federal agency officials, County Disaster Management and the County Commissioners to develop treatments to protect natural resources and critical infrastructure from catastrophic fires.  The program coordinator also:

      1. Manages and administers State and Federal grants to treat hazardous fuels.
      2. Interacts with rural fire departments to secure needed equipment, provide parcels maps of mitigated private properties within their suppression areas.
      3. Coordinates with assigned fire incident management teams on behave of the county.
      4. Provide public information and education on wildfire, particularly in the community interface areas.
      5. Develops individual residence assessments upon request, proposes community and landscape fuels treatment projects and coordinates implementation.
      6. Oversees the currency and applicability of the Idaho County Wildland Fire (CWPP) and updates as necessary.

Idaho County Fire Mitigation Plans: