Summit County Citizens Voice

A wildfire burns on the outskirts of Weaverville, California. PHOTO COURTESY U.S. FOREST SERVICE.

Outreach and education needs to be targeted at first-time home buyers; local realtors say they could do more.

Workshop for wildfire mitigation grant applicants coming up March 31, 2010 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., Mount Royal Room, County Commons, 37 Peak One Road, Frisco

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Many people buying mountain homes for the first time do not fully understand the wildfire risks in the wildland-urban interface zone, according to a U.S. Forest Service study conducted in the Colorado Springs area.

The study is posted in a Scribd.com window at the end of the story.

Even after an extensive outreach effort by the city’s fire department, only 27 percent of the home buyers interviewed for the study realized they were considering a property at risk of wildfires before they made an offer on the home or land. The Colorado Springs Fire Department created a detailed list of properties with relative fire-risk ratings and posted the results on it FireWise web site, with at-risk areas marked in bright red. But the Forest Service researchers found that most potential property buyers were not aware of the information.

Though specific to the Colorado Springs area, the study results suggest that more could be done to educate first-time buyers about wildfire threats in the forested fringes in all of Colorado’s exurban communities.

“I think people might be complacent because nothing has happened yet … It’s beyond the horizon,” said Sandy Briggs, organizer of a local forest health task force that has worked for years to increase local awareness of forest health and wildfire issues. “Unless there’s imminent danger, people say, ‘it won’t happen to me.’ It’s caveat emptor,” he said.

I guess it depends on who you’re talking to,” said assistant county manager Steve Hill. With all the things in the paper … beetle days in Frisco … But I think we still have a large influx of homebuyers who aren’t aware unless their realtors inform them,” said Hill, who represents the county on the local wildfire council.

Hill said Summit County has been a model for other areas when it comes to collaborative efforts to raise awareness about forest health issues, including potential wildfire dangers. Summit County commissioners have funded forest health efforts to the tune of about $300,000. The county works closely with the U.S. Forest Service, local fire departments and state officials to help homeowners reduce risks to their property by thinning and clearing trees, and even helps pay for the work with grants to homeowner associations.

The county also has had a set of wildfire mitigation regulations in effect since 1992, which includes requirements aimed at reducing the risk for new developments. But that’s a snapshot effort, aimed at new development, and doesn’t account for the need to maintain fuel mitigation efforts after the initial approval. The methodical approach includes high-tech mapping of at-risk neighborhoods and then working with property owners to reduce the threat. The county is currently updating its community wildfire protection plan.

Nevertheless, if — or, as many local officials say, when — a major wildfire burns in the area, Hill said people will probably be asking themselves if enough was done to warn people, and to mitigate the potential dangers.

Door-to-door
Summit County’s program extends beyond holding meetings and publishing pamphlets and brochures. State Sen. Dan Gibbs is a certified wildlands firefighter and also serves part-time as the county’s wildfire mitigation officer. He’s been going door-to-door in targeted areas identified as high-risk to speak with property owners one-on-one.

“Once they’re interested, we steer them toward the grant program. But there’s only so much we can do … it would be ideal if there was an upfront education effort when people are buying,” Gibbs said.

On the legislative level, Gibbs has carried numerous bills related to wildfire hazards and forest health, mainly aimed at preventive treatment of forests, all critical considering that about 1 million Coloradans live in the wildland-urban interface. One concern is that some of them live in a potential no-man’s land, in between fire department jurisdictions, Gibbs said.

Other state resources include the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, which publishes information on what insurance covers, he said. The Colorado State Forest Service also offers tremendous resources. But it’s not always clear whether that information is getting to the people who need it. While most long-time locals are acutely aware of the potential for wildfires, the state’s mountain resort communities also have a high percentage of transient or part-time residents who are not completely tuned in.

“We need to figure out a better targeted way to educate people,” Gibbs said, suggesting that bringing realtors and homebuilders into the education equation could help.

Disclosure

Some government jurisdictions require disclosure of potential hazards as part of the real estate transaction process, for example, a warning if a property is in a flood plain. There is no such requirement of disclosure for property transfers in the forest red zone.

“Do real estate agents do a great job? My gut feeling is no. They could a better job,” said Breckenridge town manager Tim Gagen, who recently was near the center of the town’s debate over a far-reaching fire mitigation ordinance that was ultimately rejected.

Gagen said insurance companies could also play a key role. Statewide, insurance companies have looked at wildfire issues, but there hasn’t been widespread agreement about how they should address the potential risks. But the insurance industry does maintain a web site with links to relevant information.

Gagen also said that homeowner associations are a key link in the information chain. He singled out the Breckenridge Highlands neighborhood as an example of an HOA that actively pursues wildfire mitigation and keeps its members informed of those efforts.

A couple of local realtors said they think there’s a higher level of awareness in Summit County than in Colorado Springs, but they also agreed that the local real estate community could probably do more to engage potential home buyers.

“I would say, in general, realtors don’t talk about it or think about it as much as we maybe should,” said Anne Marie Ohly, chair of the Summit Association of Realtors. A few years ago, local attorney Jay Bauer wrote up a “wildfire disclaimer” that can be used as part of real estate transactions. “We do have a disclosure, but I don’t think it’s widely used,” Ohly said.

“I gotta believe, the percentage of people here is smaller,” said Ken Deshaies, explaining that homeowner associations in fire-prone neighborhoods are all involved in wildfire mitigation efforts that are reflected in the dues and the minutes. Potential buyers should be looking at those documents as part of their due diligence, he said.

“I don’t think there are many people seeing it as a major problem. I’m sure we could say we could do more, but I think we’re doing what’s reasonable,” he concluded.

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