Paul Gosar Asks Arizona Fire Captain About Innovations In Fire Prevention Technology

7 months ago

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) questioned witnesses about fire prevention innovations.

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00:00And three sides of this person's house has got a Forest Service on there and

00:05they just got their bill. In fact, they have a bill because they're being

00:08dropped because of the Forest Service not being taken care of their properties

00:13around them. Do you think that's fair? No, I think it's bullshit. Thank you. How

00:20would you approach that? As a landowner? Yep.

00:26Well, I'd go to the local forest and I would explain the problem and I would see

00:31this. I could work with them to do some land management on their jurisdiction. I

00:37would offer it for free, knowing that they actually can't accept that, but I

00:41would probably do it in writing and sent to the local newspaper to say my

00:45insurance is being canceled. I'm working hard on my own private property. Look what

00:49I've done. I have fire resistant. I've met zone zero. I've managed my land, but

00:56I no longer can afford here. And probably in your cul-de-sac, this is

01:00generational people that have lived on this property. So while we've lived here

01:04for a hundred years in harmony with the natural resources, we no longer can do it

01:08because of the cost. But I would get that in writing and go public on it.

01:11Because frankly, at the end of the day, I don't think that we're going to get the

01:14forest to take action to mitigate or do treatment to protect that particular

01:21landowner. Thank you. Kevin Chapson. So in Flagstaff, we almost had to learn our bad

01:28lesson before we learned our good lesson, right? We almost lost Flagstaff. It had

01:32crested that hill over there south of Little America. We had lost the town. So when

01:39we say mitigation, it's biodiversity different from each type of tree, right? Each forest is

01:48very different, right? Correct. So is it more the floor the problem in Arizona? Or is it more

01:55the limbs, dead limbs, or the saturation of trees together that are the problem? Oh, we got lots of

02:01problems. It's all those things combining together. It, you know, this is, this is really

02:09where, you know, I think our specialty within our capacity within our program, we are standing

02:15in a driveway talking to that homeowner and each parcel, each driveway has different

02:19challenges. It might be the open space behind them that needs some treatment. It might be

02:24their own property. And really the solution here has to be comprehensive. We have to have

02:29that combination of the risk reduction on the natural environment. So going in and doing

02:33the, the thinning in the forest, reducing the ladder fuels, reducing the, the tree connectivity.

02:39So if there is a fire, it stays on the ground, but at the same time, making sure that homeowner

02:43is doing the work they need to do on their property. And, and it is challenging because we have folks

02:47that they're surrounded by treatments. They've done the work on their property and they're, they're

02:52still running into those insurance challenges. So it can't just be one solution. It's got to

02:56be a combination. It's going to have to be a combination at scale. And, and I fear that

03:01scale is probably going to be multiple states. That's what it's going to take to look at some

03:05of these models and say that risk has been, has been mitigated in a way that actually changes

03:10some of these, some of the math on these, these maps. So it's, it's got to be a combination

03:15of, of these solutions. And, and really it starts at the parcel level.

03:20This is right. From the insurance industry, how would they have access to this information

03:25if a landowner is actually doing their job? Yeah. So it is, some of it is based on aerial

03:33kind of information that they can obtain. And so much of it happens based on what is reported

03:38from the homeowner along with documentation from them. They don't simply say, hey, tell me

03:44it's true. Um, the insurance company wants to see the pictures, um, to prove that it's

03:50true. So AI and some of this goo of earth, like for example, really should be beneficial

03:56to the insurance industry. It absolutely is. And it, today it still has, um, probably two

04:02principal limits I'll show, speak of. First of all, it's showing you the top down. It's

04:06not as easy to see the diagonals, which allow you to see the resolution up closest to the house.

04:11Progress is being made there, but that's an element where we're still reliant on the individual

04:16homeowners or others to put boots on the ground. The second piece is, is, is as much progress

04:22has been made on wildfire modeling and the kind of progression of fire behavior. One of

04:27the most difficult pieces is once it gets to start building, burning structures, the embers

04:33created by structures are even more lethal. When the, you know, motherboard from the TV is

04:40on fire and flow and flying, when the, um, uh, hose from the dishwasher is picking up and

04:47flying, look at those kinds of elements, particularly in those high wind events. That's a place where

04:52the modeling, the AI still has a ways to go. Gotcha. Mr. Chatler. So the advent of new materials,

04:59uh, that are very flame resistant. I know of one now that's, uh, basalt. Man, they actually

05:04can weave it, believe it or not, and they can make panels that are both bulletproof and fireproof.

05:09How would that add then change that whole aspect that you would look at as far as fire?

05:14The innovative building materials are, are a game changer for us. Um, this also aligns

05:19with potentially some of our small diameter wood utilization strategies around flag staff

05:23as well. Um, so really looking at, you know, this challenge, uh, we're spending time with

05:29our community development folks in our, our building folks within the city. It's, it's not

05:33just the fire department that's responsible for fixing these things because we can have

05:36partners that come up with, with wonderful new construction ideas. And if we can't get that

05:40built into our code, um, we're going to run into some challenges. So really working across

05:45all these different disciplines and, and being supportive of new building construction innovations

05:50is going to be very important for us. Thank you. I'm going to save my next time until after.

Paul Gosar Asks Arizona Fire Captain About Innovations In Fire Prevention Technology

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