Lawrence County Community Wildfire Protection Plan - Black Hills ...

eduction in loss of values from wildfire inthe future.Collaboration will be developedbetween federal, state, county and localagencies. Hazardous fuels reductiontreatments can be more effective bycoordinating and sharing information aboutplans and projects. The intent of thisinteragency effort will be to help various firemitigation programs become moreeffective by generating continuity betweentreatment areas.Reducing fire intensity and incidentseverity will increase the fire suppressioneffectiveness during an incident. Providinga safer environment for firefighters and thegeneral public will help provide higherdegree of protection for values at risk.to reduce risk. Helping these entitiesidentify and take steps to become morefire safe can reduce potential loss of life,property and resources.Structure assessments of privateproperty in the WUI areas will continue tobe done to help assess conditions in theCounty and determine future mitigationplanning strategies. Form 502 will be usedin conjunction with GPS and GIS to mapand display this information more efficientlyto show relationships that may not beapparent otherwise. Contact withhomeowners during this process allows aone-on-one discussion of ideaslandowners can do to reduce the threat fromwildfire. People are more aware andinterested in wildfire mitigation when it istheir own property being discussed.Heightened interest by landowners inwildfire issues will help generate moresupport in the area of wildfire mitigation andpromote participation in the future.The Individual Hazardous Fuels CostShare Program will provide a mechanismto achieve a structural condition of fuels thatmay reduce the risk to the values inLawrence County. All ladder fuels must betrimmed up a minimum of 6-feet off theground. This breaks the vertical continuityof the fuel and prevents the fire fromspreading into the canopy. Isolatedpatches of volatile shrubs and regenerationcan exist if they are well separated fromsurrounding canopy. Under story and deadforest litter must be removed.Conifer canopy shall have an averageof 20 feet of separation betweenneighboring conifer canopies. Steepslopes require more spacing between treesto maintain canopy separation and toprotect against more aggressive firebehavior. When selecting trees forHazardous Fuels Reduction ProgramsProperty owners will be informedabout the Individual Hazardous Fuels CostShare Program and the results of theassessment of property in the WUI areawill be used to determine what needs tobe done to mitigate for hazards. Fuel loads,topography and survivable space are theprimary considerations for priority ofparticipants. Properties with high orextreme grant eligibility ratings would havea higher priority to receive funds from theprogram than property that has a low rating.Once it has been determined that theproperty is eligible for the program thelandowner would fill out a request for costsharing assistance form. It is important toremember this program only reduces therisk from wildfire. It does not eliminatethe risk from wildfire.Assistance will be provided to firedepartments, homeowners associationsand other communities in the WUI areas toidentify hazards and help develop projectsremoval, large dominant trees that are22 Lawrence County Community Wildfire Protection Plan