Fireworks ignited the Eagle Creek Fire (2017) that threatened 5,000 homes, shut down I-84, and burned 50,000 acres. Credit: Lucy E. J. Lauser

County Emergency Management renews Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan

Hood River County is at risk from various natural hazards, with wildfires and winter storms occurring every year. The recently updated county Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan outlines strategies to reduce the impact of 11 types of hazards, adding Extreme Heat and Air Quality/Smoke to nine preexisting ones.

Hood River County’s list of hazards include:

• Wildfire
• Winter storm
• Drought
• Extreme heat
• Crustal earthquake
• Air quality/smoke
• Landslide/debris flow
• Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) event
• Windstorm
• Flood
• Volcanic event

The County’s Hazard Analysis Matrix evaluates the probability of each hazard and community vulnerability. Hazards are ranked with scores influenced by historical events, the likelihood of a hazard occurring, the vulnerability to the community, and the maximum threat.

January 2024 windstorm

2020 Wildfire smoke

November 2006 flood

Planning and preparedness help the community when disaster strikes. The Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan (NHMP) lists the county's critical and essential infrastructure and facilities. It ranks natural hazards based on their potential risk to people and property and identifies mitigation strategies that County Emergency Management and local jurisdictions can undertake. The Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) builds on this work by focusing specifically on wildfires and includes a comprehensive wildfire risk assessment.

This map in the CWPP plan displays fire locations and causes in the county over 30 years. Eighty-nine percent of wildfires in Hood River County between 2000 and 2022 were caused by human activities and could have been prevented.

Every five years, Oregon counties must update their NHMPs to remain eligible for federal hazard mitigation funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Additionally, counties are required to update CWPPs every 10 years for other federal wildfire funding eligibility. The CWPP was last updated in 2013. “The planning landscape is fairly complex,” noted County Emergency Manager Charles Young. “The NHMP serves as the foundational document for mitigation within the county. We have chosen to include the CWPP as a volume within the NHMP to ensure that it is updated every five years as well.”

County Emergency Management is seeking feedback on the new plans, located online at hoodriversheriff.com/what-we-do/emergency-management. If you have any comments or suggestions, or think something has been missed, please send an email to NHMP@hoodrivercounty.gov. Comments will be considered for the next update.

Other actions in the state and nation have been occurring concurrently with the development of the NHMP. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is implementing the wildfire crisis strategy, while the Oregon legislature has passed SB 762 which directs the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to create new Wildfire Urban Interface (WUI) codes in response to the 2020 wildfires. These external plans have been integrated into Hood River County’s CWPP to help the county access grants and expertise from these organizations.

Hood River County is awaiting the updated WUI codes from the OSFM. Once available, these codes will be incorporated into county and city codes.

“There are projects in the CWPP that range in scale from huge forest fuels treatments all the way down to the first few feet around homes. Actions at all scales are necessary to reduce the impact of catastrophic wildfires,” Young explains.

By pruning low branches, removing small trees and clearing brush, you can disconnect fire’s pathway into tree canopies and prevent surface fires from burning too hot

The plan outlines fuel reduction projects throughout Hood River County, focusing on areas near residential communities, critical energy infrastructure, vital structures, and forestland to reduce fire intensity and enhance firefighting efforts.

Increasing knowledge and awareness about defensible space and preparedness is achieved in the comprehensive wildfire prevention and preparedness booklet, “Before Wildfire Strikes — A Guide to Improving Wildfire Preparedness and Living with Fire in Hood River County.” Hood River County Emergency Management, the Hood River County OSU Extension Office, and other local partners recently collaborated on this booklet. It is available at County offices, the Hood River County OSU Extension Office, and your local fire station. The guide is also available online here in both English and Spanish.

January 2012 ice storm

1948 Columbia River Flood

1911 snowstorm