[Canyon] Structure assessment & Fwd: Bridger Foothills Fire 9/19 morning update

[Tom Fiddaman]

Hi neighbors - the structure assessment generated a lot of questions, 
which I've attempted to answer below.

A general observation first: I think it's very much in your interest to 
have this done. The assessment is really from a firefighter's point of 
view - what would have to happen to defend your place when the next fire 
happens? The goal is to save firefighters time and improve their safety. 
We don't want to slow these teams down, and if you miss them, it's no 
big deal - there are other programs that will get you a defensible space 
assessment (we'll dig up some links to resources separately).

I am going to get lectured, I am sure... thank you for the heads up.

They definitely are not in lecture mode. Actually I think they were a 
little surprised that my wife wanted to tag along, but she got a lot of 
good information. Our insurance company did an assessment a couple years 
ago, which was valuable, but they gave us a very opaque report 
afterwards; I think we got better information from this team.

So they are coming to everyone’s home in the canyon - not just the ones that were affected by the fire?

Apparently, all the homes in the Fire District. I'd guess that they're about half done, according to Ted's note below, since there are a little over 400 homes in the GIS data for the canyon.

Will they contact us to make an appointment if we have a gate at the end of our road?  Should we contact them ahead of time and give them our gate code?

I don't think they have time to make appointments. Personally, I'd leave the gate open for a couple days to be sure it gets done.

How will we know when they are coming?    Just watch for their truck?

If you see their truck in your area, you might be able to catch them and get them to adjust the time at your place. But again, they probably have limited time available.

Are these the guys spraying red paint on spots on the road?

No - I'm pretty sure that's Northwest Energy.

1. So these guys have the right to.enter and inspect our property 
without permission? Can understand firefighters in an emergency, but 
this seems a little odd.

Not sure about rights, and I wasn't home when they started. My wife had 
the impression that they would have skipped us if we'd declined 
permission, but she welcomed them, so hard to say.


Is there a way of finding out when the USFS team will be at our home, or 
if the have already been there?  It would be good to know what our 
assessment is and what actions are recommended.
2. Is there a way to coordinate with usfs team to ensure we are at our 
residence when they show up

I don't know a method, other than catching the truck. They probably have 
to be pretty disciplined about hitting houses in sequence for 
efficiency. Lure them with pizza?

I wonder if they have notes they can share? We saw them at our homes at Bridger Bowl, but we didn’t ask them what they were doing ? So needless to say we missed that opportunity.

3. Is the information they gather at the residences available for review 
by owners of the property. Is it otherwise kept private?

Good questions. I know it goes into an NIFC database for agency access, 
but it's not clear if we can get the notes through BCFD or some other 
source. However, we should be able to get other assessments done.

4. Do you have contact names and numbers for usfs structure team members 
doing these inspections?

Unfortunately, no.

Tom

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Bridger Foothills Fire 9/19 morning update
Date: 	Sat, 19 Sep 2020 08:45:29 -0600
From: 	Ted Mather <tmather at bridgercanyonfiremt.gov>



Good morning,

Please see today's update and map attached.  The attached picture shows 
the area of heat south of Pine Creek reported at 4:30 this morning. Fire 
personnel and an engine responded; the heat was interior to the fire's 
edge and posed no threat to the integrity of the fireline.

Fire personnel and BCFD crews are continuing to assess structures in the 
fire district. Over 220 structure assessments have been completed so 
far. The data collected will be used to document the fire risk and serve 
as a reference for future fires.

Note that this will be the last daily update from Northern Rockies Team 
5 as the incident is being transitioned to the Type 3 team. Daily 
updates will continue to be distributed by the Type 3 local incident 
management organization.


Thank you,

Bridger Canyon Fire Dept. 	
Ted Mather
Fire Chief | Bridger Canyon Fire Dept.
tmather at bridgercanyonfiremt.gov <mailto:tmather at bridgercanyonfiremt.gov>
www.bridgercanyonfiremt.gov <http://www.bridgercanyonfiremt.gov/>
8081 Bridger Canyon Rd, Bozeman, MT 59715

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