County presented a 10-year Community Wildfire Protection Plan; staff asks board to adopt resolution

Roscommon County emergency management and consultants presented a 162-page Community Wildfire Protection Plan and asked the board to adopt it as a framework for reducing wildfire risk over the next decade. Emergency Management Director Vanessa Varner said the plan builds on the 2016 document and that adopting it would not commit county funds immediately but would make the county and its fire departments eligible for state and federal grants.

"This is important to us because the, wildfire risk has been identified as the number 1 hazard threat, for Roscommon County," Varner said, adding that adoption "doesn't make a financial commitment" but allows fire departments to pursue equipment and mitigation grants. Consultant George Merceron summarized the methodology and risk profile, noting that while wildfire probability is relatively low compared with western states, 97.9% of county structures are within the wildland-urban interface and that exposure translates to high potential loss: "Looking at those actual structures within that Wildland Urban Interface amounts to 4,500,000,000 in value for the county."

The plan recommends community education (Firewise programs), capacity-building for volunteer departments, improved access to water supply and fuel‑reduction partnerships with the DNR and neighboring agencies. It also adds governance and regular review mechanisms (annual check-ins, five-year update cadence) to ensure the plan does not "become a paperweight." The board discussed next steps and directed staff to bring an adoption resolution to the next regular meeting.