Fire plan ready for citizens to review

Sisters residents now have a chance to weigh in on the plan that is supposed to keep them safe from wildfire.

The draft of the Greater Sisters Country Community Wildfire Protection Plan is now available for public review and comment, according to Marcus Kauffman of the Watershed Research and Training Center at the University of Oregon.

The public has until May 13 to respond with comments on the draft, Kauffman explained.

“After the Cache Mountain Fire of 2002, the Sisters City Council expressed concern about any future evacuation in the City of Sisters and identified community fire protection as an important priority that year,” said Eileen Stein, Sisters City Manager.

“We are pleased that the plan is now complete and ready for public comment. More important, preparing the plan solidified relationships with the fire and emergency agencies in our area.”

The plan offers a background of past fire history, identifies specific communities at risk, and proposes action plan goals and objectives. Maps display the risk assessment of structures, landscape, and other values identified at a series of four community meetings.

Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony echoed the city manager’s enthusiasm.

“There has been a good level of communication, coordination, and collaboration among local, state and federal jurisdictions in the greater Sisters area who have responsibilities for emergency service,” Anthony said. “And there has been a great deal of public support for managing forest lands to improve their health and reduce the risk of uncharacteristically intense wildland fires.”

Copies of the 61-page document are available for reading at the Sisters Library, Sisters City Hall, Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Station in Sisters, Camp Sherman Fire Station, Cloverdale Fire Station, Sisters Ranger Station, Black Butte Ranch Fire Station and Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Office.

The draft plan, prepared by local, state and federal agencies, is designed to “protect human life and property, restore fire-adapted ecosystems, increase public understanding of living in a fire-prone area, instill a sense of personal responsibility to prevent wildfires, increase the ability to prepare and respond to wildfires and improve the landscape to withstand wildfire.”

The draft is also available at http://www.sistersfire.com/Mission_files/Wildfire/Wildfire2.htm.

Work started on the plan in April 2004 and involved the City of Sisters, rural communities in the Sisters-Camp Sherman, Black Butte Ranch and Cloverdale fire protection districts and other nearby neighborhoods.

Some 13 communities are listed in the draft as being at risk from wildfire, including Panoramic View Estates, Camp Sherman, the City of Sisters and nearby subdivisions Crossroads, Black Butte Ranch and Forked Horn Estates.

Others listed are Indian Ford Meadows, Sage Meadow, Squaw Creek Canyon Estates, Tollgate, Plainview Estates, Suttle Lake and Cascades Meadows Ranch. Lead agencies that worked on the plan were the Sisters-Camp Sherman, Black Butte Ranch and Cloverdale fire protection districts and the City of Sisters.

Other agencies participating were the Sisters Ranger District of the Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, Jefferson County Emergency Services, and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office-Emergency Services.

Kauffman is working with two other Central Oregon projects, the La Pine Phase 2 Plan and the Walker Range District Plan in the Gilchrist and Crescent area. Elsewhere in Oregon, similar efforts are underway in the Bend area, Crook County, Applegate area and Josephine County.

“While other parts of the state are undertaking this type of project, we are ahead of the curve here in Central Oregon,” said Tay Robertson, chief of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District, during the series of local community meetings last fall.