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Flagstaff Fire Department outlines wildfire risk, modeling and code updates
Summary
The Flagstaff Fire Department described fire-ecology science, new modeling tools to map likely wildfire pathways into neighborhoods, and proposals to update building and wildland-urban-interface codes to reduce structure loss.
The Flagstaff Fire Department presented science and modeling intended to reduce wildfire risk to both forested lands and neighborhoods and urged coordinated action across community development, state agencies and federal funding programs.
Neil Chapman, wildland fire captain for the City of Flagstaff, described how a century of fire suppression and exclusion of Indigenous cultural burning has increased vertical forest fuels and shifted low-severity fires into higher-severity risk. “Those are good fires. They’re stimulating nutrient cycling,” Chapman said of the low-severity fires that historically kept ponderosa pine forests open.
Chapman reviewed emerging tools his team is using: a pathway model from XyloPlan that maps likely routes for vegetation-to-structure spread under wind-driven scenarios; parcel-level structure-vulnerability modeling being piloted with a Colorado State University researcher; and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety wildfire-prepared-home standards. He said the city offers free wildfire risk assessments and is using software tied to the IBHS template to track mitigation work.
Chapman and staff described code and policy work in progress: an update to the International Code Council’s resource protection standards (wildland-urban-interface code), alignment of landscaping and tree-retention practices for new development, and updates to the community wildfire protection plan (CWPP). He noted national funding programs have emphasized natural-landscape work while built-environment mitigation funding is more limited; local voters approved a $10 million bond for ecological restoration, but officials are seeking federal and state alignment to fund neighborhood-scale interventions.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about urban trees, street networks and setbacks. Chapman said risk depends on parcel-level conditions — fuel under a tree, fences and close vegetation connections — and repeated that parcel-level driveway assessments are necessary. He also noted that the IBHS “wildfire prepared plus” standard is not currently approved for implementation in Arizona and that the state Department of Insurance is reviewing mitigation and insurance availability.
