RES 2025054 - Laserfiche WebLink

Wildfire Costs Wildfires of all sizes incur costs that include damages to property, economic disruption, impacts on public health, and the cost to contain or suppress the fire. Preventing catastrophic wildfires, wildfires that cause substantial undesired losses to society and the environment (CCST 2020), is the intent of the Livermore -Pleasanton Fire Department's defensible space standards and this wildfire appendix. Catastrophic wildfires have costs that greatly exceed the tree maintenance costs recommended in this section, which are intended to prevent or reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires in the WUI areas of the City. As an example, the 2020 SCU Complex, probably the closest catastrophic wildfire to the City, had a total acreage of 396,824 and burned from August 16 to October 1, 2020. The fire destroyed 225 structures and damaged 26 additional structures. The SCU complex cost approximately 68 million dollars to contain (NIFC 2020). Estimates of the costs related to the destroyed buildings are not available, but using the median price of homes sold in the County in 2020 ($1,027,860.00)(CA EDD, 2024) multiplied by the total number of structures destroyed (225) comes to more than 231 million dollars. Wildfire prevention, including tree maintenance, is overwhelmingly worth the investment compared to the cost of damages from the fire. As a final example, the Lick Observatory, which the 2020 SCU Complex threatened, was valued at the time of the fire at approximately $77 million. The Lick Observatory spent approximately $864,000.00 on vegetation management work in 2007 and 2017. CAL FIRE spent approximately $360,000.00 to suppress the fire at the observatory, and the observatory ultimately experienced $3.7 million in damages. Wildfire prevention measures resulted in a $73 million avoided loss (CAL OES, 2023). Property Insurance Considerations Property insurance companies can place demands on property owners to perform vegetation management work on their property in order to maintain coverage or prevent their policy premiums from increasing. While these demands do not carry the same legal authority as fire department requirements, losing coverage or paying significantly more in policy premiums can be just as impactful to property owners as a notice of violation from the City. Vegetation management work can include removing trees from the property. This can include trees that can be considered a foreseeable risk, such as dead or seriously damaged trees, but can also include healthy trees that are near a building or overhang the roof in WUI areas. Insurance companies have their internal processes for evaluating and determining risk and may not consider the tree condition, maintenance history, City tree permit criteria, or fire department vegetation management standards. State regulations (PRC 4291 and GC 51182) allow insurance companies to require fuel modification, including tree trimming or removal, that is greater than what is required by the fire department. Property owners receiving a requirement to remove a tree on their property from their insurance companies can be in a situation that ultimately does not benefit anyone. For the property owner, accepting the demands of the insurance companies can incur tree removal costs that can be several thousand dollars for large trees or face the loss of property insurance coverage. For the City, the insurance company demands that removing a tree can pit property owners against City staff who have to enforce the City's Tree Preservation Ordinance. These demands can force property owners to spend money and effort on removing a tree that the fire department standards do not require and take away from vegetation management efforts that would minimize the risk of wildfire spread on the property. Finally, these demands from the insurance company do not consider the environmental services and benefits contributed by the tree that hold real economic value for the City. APPENDIX A -WILDFIRE 29 of 219