Rush Valley officials briefed on House Bill 48 and required wildland-urban-interface ordinance adoption

Jason Blinder, Rush Valley fire chief, briefed the commission on House Bill 48, a recent state law requiring local governments to adopt or establish functionally equivalent Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) building and vegetation standards and to adopt a wildfire risk (WUI) map.

Blinder summarized the statute’s main requirements: adopt the International WUI code or a functionally equivalent ordinance; adopt a wildfire assessment map (Tooele County’s map is already available and shows most of Rush Valley in high or extreme risk); adopt or maintain a community wildfire protection plan (the town already has one registered with the state); and adopt building and defensible-space requirements for new construction and major remodels in designated risk zones.

Blinder said the county’s ArcGIS WUI layer already classifies much of the town as orange (high risk) and red (extreme risk) and recommended the town adopt the county map rather than create a new map. He told commissioners he would place a draft ordinance to adopt the WUI code and the county map on the town council agenda (Blinder cited the October 22 town council meeting as a likely date but noted scheduling could push the ordinance to November), and that the adoption must be completed before year-end to meet compliance deadlines.

Commissioners and Blinder discussed enforcement and inspection scope. Blinder said the bill contemplates future inspections and that the state — not necessarily the town — may set inspection fees and perform some enforcement in higher-risk zones. He said enforcement details and fees remain under development at the state level and that the town’s immediate responsibility is to adopt the code and map.

Commissioners raised practical questions: how the town should notify residents; how to treat existing homes and major remodels; and whether insurance companies will change underwriting based on compliance status. Blinder said the WUI code primarily applies to new construction and certain major remodels for structural requirements (for example, roof and siding materials in some zones), but defensible-space and vegetation-management requirements can affect existing properties and may lead to inspections under future rulemaking. He suggested outreach via the town website, flyers and coordination with Tooele County fire staff.

Blinder said he would draft an ordinance for review and work with the town council staff on scheduling; he and the commission agreed the town needs to adopt the code and map promptly but that many implementation specifics remain to be determined by state guidance and county coordination.