After smoky 2017, Sisters talks fire prevention efforts

It might be the middle of the winter, but Sisters is already talking fire season and prevention efforts. The city said it wants to be on top of fire season this year after last year’s smoky, challenging conditions.

Part of the motivation comes from the impact of the Milli Fire on the community, as well as the resulting often-unhealthy smoke levels.

City Manager Brant Kucera said Monday that while most wildfires burn outside city limits, it still has a livability and economic impact on the city.

He said Sisters wants to be on top of communication and getting information out to residents, as well as educating homeowners about the importance of fireproofing their homes by keeping them clean of excess brush, twigs and flammable materials.

“I think we want to make sure we have as much messaging out as soon as possible,” Kucera said. “Prevention is something we want to work really hard on, at least getting people to understand what they can or can’t do. We know we are going to have fires, we know there’s going to be impacts to the city, so what can we do to best mitigate those impacts in the future?”

The city was recently awarded a Community Planning for Assistance with Wildfires grant. It allows Sisters to analyze city zoning and land-use development, to better understand where to and not to build certain structures.

Many businesses said last summer’s smoke levels hurt their sales. One store owner said she lost six weeks’ worth of income because of all the smoke.

The owner of Grizzly Ridge UpCycle, Rhonda Barney, said she was planning on big crowds the whole month of August because of summer travelers and the eclipse.

“People didn’t shop, and in Sisters, we rely on summer traffic to get us through the winter,” Barney said. “It’s just a cycle, and our retail activity in the summer will really make or break a business here, especially a small business like mine.”

The general manager of the Sno Cap Drive in, Jeri Larrance, said they were hoping to remodel some of the restaurant over the winter, but couldn’t make it happen.

“It wasn’t nearly as busy as it should have been, especially towards the last weekend — that wasn’t busy at all,” Larrance said. “People were canceling events over here just due to the smoke.”

The city will work with the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District to provide education opportunities. Fire Chief Roger Johnson said an expert will come to Central Oregon and speak on the “Era of Mega-Fires.”

The Community Planning for Assistance with Wildfires grant also will help keep the town safe long-term.

“The idea would be, long term, what can we incorporate into land use that would make the future buildout of the city more resilient to wildfire,” Kucera said. “The grant itself wouldn’t fund any changes in anything, but what it does do is make sure we get an assessment of where the dangers lie, what we could improve, and finally what is the best way of planning for our future?”