Summit County Council members noted on Wednesday that, while the Tollgate Canyon Fire was bad news--it could have been worse.
They said the fire is a reminder that the county, and local neighborhoods, need to prepare for fires in areas that are more heavily populated and that are heavily forested.
County Council members, and County Manager Tom Fisher said that this week's fire-- and the Rockport fire of 2013-- were in sagebrush. Chris Robinson said it's only a matter of time before they have a catastrophe that poses a substantial threat to property and possibly even lives.
Doug Clyde and Robinson reflected that they were lucky with the Tollgate blaze.
"Wonderful job that those guys did, nonetheless that was a lucky situation" Clyde said. Robinson replied "That area is different, that's easier it's not great but a little easier. These other areas you're not going to have the luxury. They're steeper, the type of vegetation the fuels, (will make it) unmanageable."
Clyde said they have to focus again on enforcing the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) regulations that direct homeowners to take precautions like creating defensible space around their homes.
"We were working on an effort to provide a clear path for enforcement of the WUI. That turned out to be pretty complicated because the way the WUI is enforced is through the fire marshal the county for example has four different fire marshals." Clyde continued, "The WUI actually applies also to existing developments. In other words, you could go into some of our more forested communities and tell people 'look you've got to provide a defensible space plan, those trees you like that overhang your house, they've got to go'"
Clyde said he's working on the WUI guidelines with the county attorney's office and planning department.
Clyde said another issue is the ownership in many of those neighborhoods.
"One of the problems that we have with the enforcement of anything is absentee of land owners. They're not inclined to take care of their property. They're not worried about vegetation around their house. They're not worried about their weed problems. They're just worried about getting their monthly rent checks." Clyde said, "For those people, enforcement may be our only tool. Again, we're going to get back on it we know that it's critical. Enforcement doesn't have to be heavy-handed you just have to let people know it's their obligation."
Council member Kim Carson talked about her perspective, since her residence in Silver Creek was right over the ridge from the Tollgate fire.
"We were fortunate with the way the wind was blowing but we know how quickly the wind changes up here that was our greatest fear. Of course, once it burned far enough to the north then we had our own buffer. It's a big concern, it gets everybody thinking about are they prepared. what do they want to evacuate? how will they evacuate?" Carson continued, "I would just encourage all neighborhoods within Summit County to get together with your neighborhoods and make sure you have a plan in place. What are you doing to make your property safer in the event of a fire. That ash can blow a long ways, that's what they're doing right now is cleaning up that mop up site."
Another issue that comes up, as Carson and Tom Fisher noted, is how to deal with livestock and pets jeopardized by fire.
"So many people have horses up there that was a real concern. Where do you take them? if you have partners and you're using sharing trailers and if you go out of the neighborhood will they let you back in?" Carson said. Fisher echoed her sentiments "From an emergency management standpoint we should have some of those plans in place of what our neighborhoods are supposed to do. We do have places to go with animals, but do people know about them?"
Fisher also added that the fire has generated a lot of discussion on social media from local neighbors about taking precautions.
