Adoption of new wildfire code among the top priority in Tumwater’s hazard mitigation initiatives

To mitigate the impact of natural disasters, Tumwater made the adoption of the Washington Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Code among the city’s top priorities, as stated in documents prepared for the city’s General Government Committee meeting on Wednesday, August 9.

The WUI code, which the State Building Code Council recently adopted into the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), establishes minimum requirements to address wildfire hazards in areas where human development and wildlands intermingle.

Requirements include having fire-resistant construction materials but the limitations to trees are more controversial. Trees are only allowed if they are ten feet away from other trees and structures. There are also limitations to the amount and types of trees and vegetation within 30 to 100 feet of a structure to establish a “defensible space.”

Included in this initiative are the adoption of the International Building Code and International Residential Code, and together with the WUI Code are coded as TUM-WH-1 in the “Tumwater Annex” of the 2023 Hazards Mitigation Plan of the Thurston Region. The designated code indicates that the adoption of the three building codes is the city’s top priority in addressing wildfire hazards.

The Tumwater Annex is a document attached to the county’s Hazards Mitigation Plan, which is currently being updated as required every five years so that local jurisdictions continue to receive assistance grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The document includes the city’s community profile and capability assessment, the city’s assessment of its risks, and the city’s personal mitigation initiatives.

The draft document currently lists 22 initiatives to mitigate the impact of earthquakes, wildfires, severe storms or weather, flood, landslide, and volcanic and lahar activity.

Defensible space requirements unlikely to change

Asked by Councilmember Joan Cathey for updates about the WUI code, Planning Manager Brad Medrud said they are still working with other jurisdictions to figure out how to implement the code.

“We haven't received any indication that there will be a change in the requirements coming down from the State Building Code Council, so we're – kind of – unfortunately thinking that's going to be the way it's going to be,” Medrud said.

“I'm not confident we'll be able to change the requirements for the defensible space that are in the code,” he added.

Medrud also mentioned that they are working to make a detailed map for Tumwater showing where the WUI code applies. Currently, the Department of Natural Resources has a map showing which areas in the county are affected by the new code.

The state requires local jurisdictions to adopt the WUI code by October 29.

Other proposed hazard mitigation initiatives

Other proposed initiatives to mitigate the impact of wildfire in the Tumwater Annex include the routine inspection of fire hydrants and the establishment of a list of drought-tolerant plant species for the city’s landscaping code.

Tumwater residents identified earthquakes as the top hazard concern in a survey conducted by the city. To mitigate the impact of earthquakes, proposed initiatives include retrofitting and replacing critical system elements in the city’s Capital Facilities Plan and installing an auxiliary generator to power the city’s water supply.

For severe storms, proposed initiatives include increasing tree cover, updating land use and environmental regulations to support vegetation management activities, and the potential installation of solar power and battery storage at City Hall and Tumwater Library.

These proposed initiatives are on top of the measures that were put in place by the 2017 edition of the Hazards Mitigation Plan.

City staff estimates that a draft of Tumwater’s portion of the plan will be completed by September 15. FEMA will have to review the regional plan before the city council adopts it by February next year.