As all things wildfire remain top of mind, here’s a progress report of our efforts to address the challenges of wildfire mitigation, home fire insurance, and rural fire district funding.
Last month, we placed an item on the Board of Supervisors meeting agenda asking the County Administrator to develop a Pima County Wildfire Danger Mitigation Plan, which will include the following elements:
• Explore additional tools and options to enhance the County’s clearing and brush management efforts in wildfire prone areas, conducting a feasibility analysis on modern best practices for clearing overgrown and downed vegetation.
• Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all County property, particularly road rights-of-way, parks, and conservation lands in wildfire prone areas for opportunities to apply regular and additional clearing.
• Explore ways to help residents clear their own properties in wildfire prone areas with direct assistance in the disposal of brush and vegetation or through financial incentives in remote regions of the County.
I am pleased to report that the Board voted unanimously to proceed with the plan’s development, and set a deadline of 90 days for staff to report to us.
On home fire insurance availability/affordability effort, we recently received a legislative update from the county’s lobbyist who stated there are 18 bills addressing both insurance and wildfire mitigation working their way through the Arizona state legislature this session.
Also in February, my colleague, Supervisor Matt Heinz asked the Supervisors to approve an item intrinsically related to our concern of creating a plan to address wildfire mitigation. After communicating with the Pima County Fire Chiefs Association and the Southern Arizona Firefighters Association, Supervisor Heinz learned that many of our fire districts are dangerously underfunded, understaffed, under-equipped and under-trained.
Supervisor Heinz’s item directs our county lobbyist to work with our county administration to explore funding avenues and capabilities through the state legislature. During the February 18 board meeting, we heard comprehensive, insightful, and yes, passionate testimony from three district fire chiefs who spoke of the challenges they face with their respective agencies and how they affect their ability to respond to wildfire mitigation.
It was indeed eye opening and informative, and clearly there’s an urgent and substantive need for legislation to enable Pima County voters to fund our fire districts adequately. Supervisor Heinz’s agenda item dovetails with our request for the county to produce a countywide wildfire mitigation plan and we appreciate his efforts to ensure adequate fire district funding to prepare for wildfires. Supervisor Heinz’s request passed unanimously as well.
Expect more progress reports soon on these matters of critical importance to Southeast Region residents. In the interim, information and updates are on my Board of Supervisors page at pima.gov.
Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, District 4
33 N. Stone Avenue, Floor 11
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-724-8094
district4@pima.gov
