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Scottsdale fire chief urges stronger authority, targeted fuel management and expanded inspections in wildfire plan update
Summary
Fire Chief Tom Shannon updated the City Council on wildfire risks and mitigation work, recommending expanded authority for the fire chief, updates to the NAOS ordinance, more inspections and better community engagement; Mayor Lisa Borowski asked staff to return recommendations on the topic at a future meeting.
Scottsdale Fire Chief Tom Shannon told the City Council on Jan. 28 that the city must sharpen fuel-management strategy, expand inspections and consider strengthening the fire chief’s authority to prioritize fuels work across the city.
Shannon framed the update around the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the many human-caused ignitions the city sees, and recent large regional fires. "Our goal in everything that we do is to disrupt these pathways as much as we can," Shannon told the council as he described efforts to stop fires moving from vegetation to structures and then structure to structure.
Why it matters: Much of Scottsdale sits next to or inside WUI environments — city staff pointed to tens of thousands of resident contacts and repeated site inspections in 2024 — and the council indicated it wants to consider Shannon’s recommendations quickly because they affect public safety, open-space management and enforcement resources.
Shannon summarized current work: Scottsdale maintains an annex to the Maricopa County…
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