Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

WILDFIRE MATTERS REVIEW COMMITTEE

Date:08/24/2015
ATTENDANCE
Time:09:01 AM to 02:17 PM
Baumgardner
X
Becker K.
X
Place:SCR 356
Buck
X
Cooke
E
This Meeting was called to order by
Jones
X
Representative Hamner
Merrifield
E
Roberts
E
This Report was prepared by
Singer
X
Luisa Altmann
Thurlow
X
Hamner
X
X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call
Bills Addressed: Action Taken:
Elect Chair and Vice Chair
Opening Remarks from Staff
Interim Committee Process
Summary of 2015 Legislation
Presentation by Division of Fire Prevention and Control
Colorado State Fire Chiefs
Auxiliary Emergency Service
Colorado State Forest Service
Public Testimony		Committee Election of Chair and Vice Chair
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only
Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only

09:02 AM

Representative Hamner called the meeting to order.



09:03 AM -- Elect Chair and Vice Chair
BILL:Elect Chair and Vice Chair
TIME: 09:03:49 AM
MOVED:Hamner
MOTION:Nominate Representative Singer to serve as committee chair. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0.
SECONDED:Becker K.
VOTE
Baumgardner
Yes
Becker K.
Yes
Buck
Yes
Cooke
Excused
Jones
Yes
Merrifield
Excused
Roberts
Excused
Singer
Yes
Thurlow
Yes
Hamner
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 3 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS
BILL:Elect Chair and Vice Chair
TIME: 09:04:44 AM
MOVED:Singer
MOTION:Nominate Senator Baumgardner to serve as committee vice-chair. The motion passed on a vote of 7-0.
SECONDED:Buck
VOTE
Baumgardner
Yes
Becker K.
Yes
Buck
Yes
Cooke
Excused
Jones
Yes
Merrifield
Excused
Roberts
Excused
Singer
Yes
Thurlow
Yes
Hamner
Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 3 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

09:06 AM -- Opening Remarks from Staff

Mr. Damion Pechota, Legislative Council Staff, provided an overview of the binder that committee members were provided.




09:07 AM -- Interim Committee Process

Mr. Bob Lackner, Office of Legislative Legal Services, provided the committee with an overview of the interim committee process, including key deadlines for the committee to consider for requesting draft legislation. Mr. Lackner responded to questions from the committee.

09:11 AM -- Summary of 2015 Legislation

Ms. Kate Meyer, Office of Legislative Legal Services, provided the committee with an overview of wildfire-related legislation that was considered during the 2015 session. Ms. Meyer responded to questions from the committee regarding this legislation and budgetary information.

Mr. Pechota returned to the table to explain to the committee that this information is also contained in the binder provided.

09:29 AM -- Comments from Committee Members

Senator Jones discussed work being done regarding the state water plan, including post-wildfire river and watershed health. Senator Jones also suggested that in addition to discussing fire suppression issues, as has been covered by the committee extensively during past years, the committee also focus on issues related to fire mitigation to reduce fire risk and help forest health, including mechanical fitting and prescribed burns.

09:35 AM -- Presentation by Division of Fire Prevention and Control

Mr. Paul Cooke, Director of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) within the Department of Public Safety (DPS), introduced others from DFPC, DPS, and the Wildland and Prescribed Fire Advisory Committee (advisory committee) in attendance. Director Cooke spoke briefly about the members of the advisory committee and the role of the advisory committee. Director Cooke also spoke about current wildfire conditions and the implications of these conditions on the state. The nation is currently at national preparedness level five for wildland fire, which is the highest level of preparedness, meaning there is a scarcity of resources to fight wildland fires and all new fires in the state must be suppressed.

Director Cooke provided the committee with several handouts (Attachments A - C). The presentation slides Director Cooke discussed with the committee, along with referenced attachments, are provided in Attachment D.

150824 AttachA.pdf150824 AttachA.pdf150824 AttachB.pdf150824 AttachB.pdf150824 AttachC.pdf150824 AttachC.pdf150824 AttachD.pdf150824 AttachD.pdf

Director Cooke spoke about the need to provide wildland firefighters with greater training, proper protective equipment, and sufficient overhead supervision. Director Cooke also told the committee that wildland firefighters are often asked to "defend the indefensible," where homes are built in forested areas with little or no fire mitigation, and that this, along with the increasing number of large wildfires, the increasing intensity of these wildfires, and the growth and complexity of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) continue to present obstacles to protecting life and property.


Director Cooke also spoke about how Colorado is leading the nation in the way wildland fires are fought and several areas of interest for the committee to consider. Director Cooke spoke about the importance of fire mitigation, forest health, and creating resilient forests in addressing wildland fire issues, in addition to firefighters, fire engines, and airplanes. Director Cooke also discussed the need to encourage the federal government to expedite fuels treatment, focusing on areas of high burn probability, given the extensive federal land in the state. Director Cooke also spoke about the role of citizens in helping to develop fire adapted communities where all stakeholders take responsibility of and work collaboratively in managing the fire risk in the community. Director Cooke discussed his responsibility for overseeing the effectiveness of wildland fire suppression efforts while seeking to provide firefighter and public safety by increasing the use of technology and utilizing effective deployment strategies. Director Cooke spoke about how the number, intensity, growth, and complexity of wildfires in Colorado has increased dramatically since the 1970s, and how this trend is expected to continue. Director Cooke also spoke about the impact the increasing length of the wildfire season has on firefighting resources.

Director Cooke responded to questions from the committee about the responsibility of local and state firefighters to protect new structures built within WUI areas. Director Cooke responded by outlining the importance of homeowners and communities in WUI areas to create defensible space around structures, provide access for firefighters, have the ability to exit the community safely during a wildfire, build roadways with proper widths, provide water access, and build structures that are designed to withstand wildfire. The committee also discussed the impact of the lengthening wildfire season. The committee asked questions related to the role of DFPC in helping to find the balance between wildfire management for resource benefit and suppression. Director Cooke explained that wildfires in WUI areas must be suppressed due to the threat on local communities, and wildland fires may be managed in a variety of ways. Director Cooke discussed the role of the multi mission aircraft (MMA) in helping to provide local jurisdictions with information about a fire to help determine if a fire can be managed instead of being suppressed. Committee members asked Director Cooke about the usefulness of potential legislation that would set parameters to help determine under what circumstances a fire would not be suppressed. The committee also requested that Director Cooke provide information regarding the causes of wildfires each year, while Director Cooke explained that weather patterns explain most of the variation in the number of wildfires that occur each year.

Director Cooke continued with his presentation to the committee, which included a discussion of the new resources the state has available to help fight wildfires; an overview of the cooperative inter-agency system in place in the state to help fight wildfires, with the vast majority of fires in the state being managed at the local level; a description of how responsibility for fire suppression transfers between the local, county, state, and federal levels; an overview of the MMAs, the Colorado Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS), and other firefighting resources the state has available; and a description of the various prescribed burn programs the state has.

Director Cooke responded to questions from the committee regarding the use of drones in wildfire detection, which the state decided against using at this time; how the MMAs are operated, how the MMAs are being used to help firefighting efforts in other states, and how the economics work when the MMAs are being used by local jurisdictions, other states, or on federal land; and details related to the prescribed burns.

10:29 AM

Ms. Melissa Lineberger, Director of the Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting (CoE), provided the committee with an overview of the history and role of the CoE. Director Lineberger discussed the types of projects the CoE will be working on and the approval process for these projects. Director Lineberger also spoke about the CoE's goals and what they hope to accomplish in the future. Director Lineberger discussed the Colorado Disaster Prediction and Decision Support System that was created by House Bill 15-1120.


Director Lineberger responded to questions from the committee regarding the federal response to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in 2013, which includes an aerial firefighting use effectiveness study currently being set up by the US Forest Service. Director Cooke responded to committee questions regarding the current number of large air tankers the federal government has under contract. Director Lineberger also responded to committee questions regarding how the CoE plans to incorporate ground firefighting resources into its work, the CoE's goals related to its vision statement, what the CoE has been able to accomplish thus far, and whether the CoE has looked into satellite wildfire detection technology.

11:00 AM

Director Cooke continued with the presentation and a discussion concerning program funding sources. Director Cooke responded to questions from the committee regarding the funding for the Wildfire Preparedness Fund from a portion of insurance premium taxes. The committee requested additional information on when the decision was made to fund the Wildfire Preparedness Fund with these taxes and how much in insurance premium taxes is collected by the state. The committee also asked to hear from the advisory committee to understand their recommendations at a future meeting. The committee also requested that the advisory committee discuss with the committee the potential for setting a statewide standard for what defensible space is, and how mitigation standards currently differ between insurance companies and local fire departments, which can cause confusion to homeowners.

11:09 AM -- Colorado State Fire Chiefs

Mr. Garry Briese, Executive Director of the Colorado State Fire Chiefs (CSFC), testified to the committee. Also present with Director Briese at the table were Mr. Einar Jensen, Life Safety Educator at the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority, and Mr. Mike Morgan, Colorado River Fire Rescue Fire Chief.

Director Briese presented the committee with overview of these seven recommendations from CSFC:

A copy of Director Briese's testimony is provided in Attachment E.

150824 AttachE- CSFC Testimony.pdf150824 AttachE- CSFC Testimony.pdf


Director Briese, Mr. Jensen, and Chief Morgan responded to questions from the committee regarding how the committee has responded to these recommendations in the past; how CSFC works with DPS regarding annual budgetary requests; how CSFC may be able to interface with the CoE; what CSFC's role is in trying to address Colorado's larger fire mitigation and forest management issues; what responsibilities homeowners in WUI areas have regarding mitigation efforts and these homeowners' attitudes towards wildfire risk; the role of grants and other monetary incentives needed to get homeowners to engage in mitigation efforts on their property; how insurance issues differ between floods and fires, including building on a flood plain compared to building in a WUI area; and how firefighting and funding responsibilities can transfer between local, county, and state agencies during a wildfire.
Chief Morgan also spoke to the committee about the impact the CoE has had and is expected to have in the future from a local perspective.

12:04 PM

The committee recessed for lunch.

01:06 PM

The committee reconvened.

01:07 PM -- Auxiliary Emergency Service

Mr. Robert Wareham, Section Emergency Coordinator for the Amateur Radio Relay League's Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) for the state of Colorado, discussed his responsibility for coordinating the training and response of over 800 amateur radio operators who have made themselves available to serve their communities during an emergency. Mr. Wareham spoke about the role volunteer amateur radio operators have had during the response to various emergencies across the state and country, including large wildfires in Colorado. Mr. Wareham spoke about his previous experience working at the Communications Support Unit at the Colorado Office of Emergency Management. Mr. Wareham continued to discuss his experience during several large state emergencies where agencies often called on amateur radio operators to be their auxiliary communications experts.

Mr. Wareham spoke about the need to more broadly define the workers' compensation coverage and tort immunity in statute to include volunteers that assist with a disaster and are engaged in training exercises. In addition, he spoke on the need to clearly define local coverage responsibilities so that these volunteers can be moved around more freely from one area of the state to another in response to emergencies. Related to this, Mr. Wareham suggested creating an Auxiliary Emergency Communications Unit within the Office of Emergency Management that could provide the workers' compensation coverage and tort immunity, and to also establish guidelines for training and certification criteria.

Mr. Wareham responded to questions from the committee regarding how volunteer amateur radio operators are used during emergencies.

Mr. Wareham spoke about the importance of amateur radio during emergencies. Mr. Wareham also discussed past attempts at drafting legislation that would create the Auxiliary Emergency Communications Unit within the Office of Emergency Management. Mr. Wareham indicated that this would be consistent with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report to Congress, which encouraged states to work more closely with amateur radio operators and to include them in disaster response plans. Mr. Wareham discussed the desire to create the new Auxiliary Emergency Communications Unit, and that this would result in having a uniformly trained unit of communication volunteers available for disaster response across the state. Mr. Wareham also discussed the volunteer status of amateur radio operators and that operators are prohibited from accepting compensation for their services by federal regulation under their licenses.




Mr. Wareham responded to questions from the committee related to the potential fiscal impact of this suggested legislation. Mr. Wareham also discussed the potential for federal reimbursement for volunteer hours during federally-declared disasters by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

01:29 PM -- Colorado State Forest Service

Mr. Mike Lester, State Forester and Director of Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS), spoke to the committee about the history of CSFS and the role of CSFS in forest management in the state. Director Lester provided the committee with a handout (Attachment F). A copy of Director Lester's presentation to the committee can be found in Attachment G.

150824 AttachF.pdf150824 AttachF.pdf150824 AttachG- CSFS Presentation.pdf150824 AttachG- CSFS Presentation.pdf

Director Lester spoke about the wildland fire mitigation outreach work CSFS does and its work to help communities become fire adapted. Director Lester also spoke about the role of the different types of trees around the state in relation to wildfires, the importance of forest management, and various threats that exist to state forest health.

Director Lester responded to questions from the committee regarding the control of pine beetles and the management of effected trees. Director Lester and the committee discussed the logging industry in Colorado. The committee also discussed potential legislation ideas that would create incentives for the development of biomass plants that would make use of the dead timber across the state. Director Lester spoke about the value of trees for logging operations in Colorado compared to trees in other states like Oregon and Washington.

01:58 PM -- Public Testimony

01:59 PM -- Jaclyn Terwey, Colorado Association of Realtors (CAR), encouraged the committee to introduce a bill that would create a wildfire mitigation tax credit that would provide an incentive for homeowners to protect their property against wildfire risk. Ms. Terwey spoke about mitigation efforts and the association costs to homeowners. Ms. Terwey also discussed efforts by CAR through its Colorado Project Wildfire to educate homeowners about the importance of mitigation and the available resources.

02:02 PM -- Dr. Brian Harvey, representing himself, indicated his availability to committee members as a resource on topics related to the committee's work. Dr. Harvey responded to questions from the committee related to the research related to the impact of pine beetles.

02:08 PM -- Richard Orf, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC), testified to the committee regarding AGNC's support for the CoE. Mr. Orf discussed the CoE's progress thus far and responded to questions from the committee regarding the work of the CoE.

02:15 PM

The committee discussed future meetings and the timeline for the committee to request draft legislation.

02:17 PM

The committee adjourned.