Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildfire Risk topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Clackamas Fire tells Gladstone: overall wildfire risk low, but fuel-reduction priorities identified
Summary
Clackamas Fire staff told the Gladstone Parks & Recreation Board that the city’s overall wildfire risk is low but identified local priority areas—Billy Goat Island, Bridal Beach/Meldrum Bar and Parkway Woods—for targeted fuel reduction and outreach. The presenters offered site-specific follow-up analyses and potential federal funding sources.
Clackamas Fire staff presented the Community Wildfire Protection Plan to the Gladstone Parks & Recreation Board and said the city overall shows low wildfire risk but includes localized pockets that merit targeted action.
“Overall, Gladstone has a low wildfire risk,” the wildfire partnership coordinator said during a map-based walkthrough of the county Risk Explorer tool, emphasizing that the tool also highlights smaller red “priority” spots within otherwise low-risk areas. Presenters explained the plan uses nine factors—defensible space, access, water availability, fuel continuity, ignition sources, burning practices, outreach, communication and others—to identify communities at risk.
The presenters singled out nine communities at risk within Gladstone and flagged Parkway Woods, Billy Goat Island and Bridal Beach/Meldrum Bar as the most relevant to the Parks Board. They described fuel ladders, dense underbrush and ivy-choked trees at Billy Goat Island and showed before-and-after photos of county-led thinning work funded with federal dollars. They also ran a fire-behavior model at a 97th-percentile worst-case scenario and reported most Gladstone boundaries showed short flame lengths and low rates of spread, with isolated clusters having higher potential flame lengths.
Board members pressed staff to run more granular analyses for Gladstone Nature Park, Meldrum Bar and Patterson Park because of access constraints and adjacent housing. Clackamas Fire staff said they would perform site-specific runs on request and noted that some mitigation projects identified in the plan may be eligible for federal funding.
The presentation concluded with a demonstration of the Wildfire Risk Explorer website and a discussion of social-vulnerability layers that could affect evacuation and recovery planning. Staff offered to provide the board with a park-by-park summary on request.
