Comments due Feb. 9
Dear OCA members,
Please comment on the draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) that Clallam County is developing. The deadline for comments is February 9.
We’re encouraged that this plan focuses on homeowner actions, fire truck access, and some strategic actions around things like communication towers, power lines, etc. rather than large-scale forest fuel treatments that are being proposed in elsewhere in the West.
In responding to the plan you could:
- Support the approach in the plan, as it can help preserve forests for habitat, ecosystem services, carbon, etc. and put limited resources toward proven, more effective Home Ignition Zone hardening approachesLook at the first few pages of the Executive Summary ES 1-2, and tables 4.2 (pg 89) and 4.3 (pg 97) of recommended actions.
- Think about your home and neighborhood. What’s your escape route(s); can a fire truck get up your road and turn around; could you and your neighbors benefit from help limbing up trees near your home, clearing brush, having free chipper days or brush disposal?
- Support proposed efforts to help homeowners create defensible space around their homes by offering some of the above help.
- For your own safety, look at Appendix F for great info on steps to make your property/home fire resilient.
Stay tuned as OCA is working with the county to hold a Fire Education Workshop this spring once the CWPP is launched.
WPP is launched.
To access the draft CWPP and participate in the review process, interested parties can visit: https://www.clallamcountywa.gov/1337/Plans and click the link entitled “Draft Clallam County 2026 Community Wildfire Protection Plan.” To submit comments on the draft, participants can either submit comments via email at web_ccem@clallamcountywa.gov or send comments by mail to the attention of Diane Harvey, Clallam County Department of Community Development, 223 E. 4th Street, Suite 5, Port Angeles, WA 98362. We extend our sincere appreciation to the community members, organizations, and agencies involved in this collaborative endeavor. Together, we will create a proactive path towards a more resilient, fire-adapted Clallam County. For more information or to ask any questions, please contact Project Manager, Matthew Cook, at matthew.cook@swca.com. For Clallam County, please contact Diane Harvey, Code Enforcement & Special Projects Manager at diane.harvey@clallamcountywa.gov or Justine Chorley, Emergency Management Program Coordinator at justine.chorley@clallamcountywa.gov
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