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Valley County unveils mobile risk-assessment dashboard to guide wildfire mitigation and incident response
Summary
County staff previewed a mobile dashboard that maps parcel-level wildfire risk, ties to assessor data, and will be restricted to approved emergency and fire personnel; commissioners asked how it will be used for permitting, grants and public access.
Valley County officials on June 16 previewed a new mobile risk-assessment dashboard intended to give fire chiefs, emergency managers and county staff parcel-level information about wildfire exposure, structure vulnerability and mitigation priorities.
The dashboard compiles prior site assessments into a searchable map linked to the county assessor parcel pages and assigns numerical risk values for lots and structures. Presenter Juan, Valley County's emergency manager, said the tool is intended for use by fire personnel, emergency managers and grant writers rather than as a public-facing scorecard.
Juan told commissioners the inventory dates to assessments begun in 2011 and updated through 2018; those efforts produced about 13,000 assessments and roughly 5,000 structures remain unassessed. He described the dashboard as “an assessment tool” that merges several assessment frameworks so responders can prioritize mitigation, targeting subdivisions, hydrant needs, ingress/egress problems and structural vulnerabilities.
The dashboard links to assessor data so parcel splits and new construction update automatically. Juan said the county plans to keep the portal on county systems, limit access to approved users, and to build an internal protocol — working with the prosecuting attorney and IT/cybersecurity staff — to vet and grant user access.
Commissioners asked how thedashboard would be used by planning and zoning and by developers proposing new subdivisions. Juan said the tool will be one of three layers (structure assessment, reviewed hazard assessment and evacuation-zone polygons) that planners and developers can use to determine required mitigation (access widths, water availability, road width and other Wildland-Urban Interface standards).
Commissioners and staff discussed limitations: the county assessment is not the same as insurance-company risk models and Juan cautioned the county tool cannot be used by insurers; he said insurance companies are “not allowed to use this data to determine their assessment” and instead rely on their own third-party models. The dashboard documents scopes of work and maintenance schedules for fuel-reduction treatments so homeowners can provide before/after evidence to insurers, but Juan said he never promises that mitigation will change an insurer’s rating.
County staff said the tool has operational benefits for incidents: responders arriving from outside the area can use it for rapid situational awareness, identify nearest hydrants or water tanks, and see assessed risk for specific structures. FEMA Region 10 and other counties have expressed interest; Juan said the county has been presenting the concept nationally as a low-cost example of county-level capability.
Next steps identified by commissioners and staff include drafting and adopting the access protocol with the prosecuting attorney and IT, defining a maintenance funding plan to keep assessments current (staff estimated 20% of parcels would be re-assessed each year once countywide coverage is complete), and incorporating the maps into planning reviews and grant applications.
