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Crook County adopts 2024 Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Summary
The Crook County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt the 2024 Community Wildfire Protection Plan after a presentation that emphasized updated risk maps, six risk-assessment areas and a nonregulatory action plan developed with 16 agencies.
Crook County commissioners voted to adopt the 2024 Crook County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) after a presentation from county staff and representatives of local fire agencies.
The plan updates county wildfire risk assessments, adds new maps and community-specific action items, and identifies six risk assessment areas — Juniper Canyon, Pal Butte, Mackay, Palina, Mowery and 12 Mile — that will guide mitigation and preparedness efforts across Crook County.
The CWPP presents countywide wildfire risk, mitigation priorities and an action plan developed with participation from 16 agencies. Presenter Lake Summers described the plan as “a countywide strategic assessment of the risks, hazards, mitigation, and prevention opportunities associated with wildfire in Cook County communities.” Summers told the board the CWPP does not impose codes or regulations but “identifies priorities for communities to reduce wildfire risk.”
Fire Marshal Russ of Cook County Fire and Rescue thanked Summers and the project team for coordinating the multiagency effort. “These plans are robust,” he said, noting the difficulty of aligning many agencies’ priorities.
Major changes since the 2014 version include new maps, an updated risk-assessment-area framework, social-vulnerability information for Crook County, and guidance added to reflect Senate Bill 762. Summers said the plan’s maps — including a wildland-urban-interface layer, critical infrastructure and predicted flame-length maps — were new to this update and were created so agencies can coordinate treatments and community outreach.
Commissioners discussed the plan’s relationship to state mapping and SB 762; Summers and the fire marshal said the CWPP was developed independently of the state’s wildfire-hazard map and is not a regulatory instrument. “This has nothing to do with 762,” the fire marshal said, adding that the CWPP was intended as a cooperative planning document, not for enforcement or rulemaking.
After brief discussion, a motion to approve the 2024 Crook County Community Wildfire Protection Plan was made and seconded. The board approved the plan by voice vote. Summers said, if adopted, the county would seek signatures from the Crook County Fire and Rescue chief and the Oregon Department of Forestry to finalize the document.
The plan will be reviewed annually by a steering committee, with a full rewrite planned every five years. The CWPP includes community-priority action items by risk area and an appendix of maps intended to help coordination among fire, land-management and emergency-response agencies.
