Oregon finalized a new system for managing wildfire risk Tuesday, after earlier attempts sparked an intense political backlash that prompted officials to start over.
The system is based on new statewide wildfire hazard maps that classify each of Oregon’s 1.9 million taxable properties as carrying a low, medium or high wildfire hazard. The maps also outline the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where buildings and wilderness mix.
High-hazard properties that are in the WUI will face new requirements for defensible space and new codes for home hardening for new or renovated buildings. That includes, for example, flame-resistant roofing.
The maps were supposed to be an initial response to the state’s devastating 2020 Labor Day Fires, when more than 1 million acres burned over a matter of days, leaving nine people dead and thousands of buildings destroyed. Then-Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed bipartisan legislation in 2021 designed to harden building codes and spend millions of dollars on fire mitigation, all based on mapping the legislation also mandated.
