Wildfires, extreme heat events tops list of prospective hazards, above earthquakes

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

The Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan was reviewed by Ashland City Council Monday evening with a discussion veering into when the city of Ashland can consider itself fully prepared for disasters — especially wildfire. 

Emergency Management Coordinator Kelly Burns presented a lightly updated version of the city of Ashland’s addendum to the Jackson County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan with the included Hazard Analysis Matrix on page seven quickly attracting the attention of council. 

Hazards were ranked in top, middle and low tiers organized by likelihood to occur and level of threat. Wildfire ranked first, with extreme heat in second place. A crustal earthquake or volcanic event ranked last. 

Councilor Eric Hansen recalled when he first moved to Ashland the potential for the Cascadia Subduction zone earthquake event was the primary concern for natural disasters. Even if wildfire has been rightly ascended to the top of the list, where do earthquakes rank? 

Burns responded the risk is there and, while the city could do more to seismically retrofit buildings, the earthquake itself is unlikely to be the largest issue. 

“While Ashland will be affected by it, we’re going to be more affected by what happens to the north and the west of us — we depend on our supply chains, the freeways,” he said. 

Coastal and other parts of the state are more likely to be leveled, leading to supply chain disruptions and potentially refugees seeking support in Ashland. 

Mayor Tonya Graham stated the plan led her to wonder about the city’s publicly sourced designation of wildfire mitigation as a top priority. 

“The city of Ashland has done a lot of work on wildfire over time — no question about that. My question is, what do we think is enough? Where do we get to the point where we say we have a fire adapted community to the best of our ability and we are now in a maintenance space?” she asked. 

Burns demurred on immediately answering the question in specifics, stating he could compile possible and probable additional actions for the city in an email if desired and affirmed an assumption from Graham that it would be unreasonable to hope that every homeowner perfectly hardens their home. 

Graham stated council should consider the topic ahead of the coming budget cycle as the city prioritizes where to place limited resources. 

Councilor Jeff Dahle asked about potential successes for the city in terms of disaster mitigation and Burns pointed to the expansion of the city’s evacuation zones and Jackson County’s additional evacuation zones. The city also has its 2021 evacuation study to lean on to further improve evacuations and recent street projects have been completed with evacuation in mind. 

Burns also stated he believed the city’s water treatment plant should be considered a high priority in light of the plan’s mapping of hazards and the potential for landslides, wildfire or flooding at the plant’s current location. 

“We should be moving that up on the list of our priorities because our drinking water is absolutely essential,” he said. 

Burns previously presented the plan Feb 20, according to city of Ashland archived meeting materials.  While the plan was adopted by the city and subsequently the county following the meeting, Burns was given feedback requesting additional work on the plan including diversifying the members of the steering committee beyond representatives from Ashland Fire & Rescue, and other additional details. 

According to the document, the expanded steering committee included individuals from within and outside the city of Ashland, such as Brandon Goldman, director of Ashland community development; Scott Fleury, director of Public Works; former emergency manager for the United States Air Force Academy Rebekah Boe; and Katie Guest, former Washington State Deputy Emergency Manager. 

At the close of the meeting, Graham pressed further on the potential for a conversation about defining the scope of Ashland’s wildfire preparations with general assent from council.

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].