Summary of Bill:

Local Wildland Fire Liaison.

The Commissioner of Public Lands (Commissioner) is required to appoint a local wildland fire liaison (Liaison) who reports directly to the Commissioner or the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) supervisor and generally represents the interests and concerns of landowners and the public during fire suppression activities of the DNR. The Liaison is to provide advice to the Commissioner on issues like access to land during fire suppression activities, the availability of local fire suppression assets, environmental concerns, and landowner interests. The Commissioner is required to consult with county legislative authorities while appointing the Liaison.

The Liaison is required to prepare a report to the Commissioner by December 31, 2015. The report must contain recommendations about things like opportunities for the DNR to increase training with local fire protection districts, the ability to quickly evaluate the availability of local fire district resources to allow the local resources to be more efficiently and effectively dispatched to wildland fires, and ways to increase and maintain the viability of local fire suppression assets. The DNR is then required to submit a report to the Legislature by October 31, 2016, that summarizes the Liaison's recommendations, explain the steps the DNR took to implement the recommendations, and offers analyses of the results.

Wildland Fire Advisory Committee.

The Commissioner is required to appoint and maintain a Wildland Fire Advisory Committee (Committee) to advise the Commissioner on all matters related to wildland firefighting in the state. This includes, but is not limited to, developing recommendations regarding department capital budget requests related to wildland firefighting and developing strategies to enhance the safe and effective use of private and public wildland firefighting resources. Generally, the Commissioner has discretion to appoint members as the Commissioner determines is most helpful. However, the Commissioner is required to invite at least the following people:

Two county commissioners—one from east of the crest of the Cascade mountains and one from west of the crest of the Cascade mountains;
Two owners of industrial land—one an owner of timberland and one an owner of rangeland;
The state fire marshal or a representative of the state fire marshal's office;
Two individuals with the title of fire chief—one from a community located east of the crest of the Cascade mountains and one from a community located west of the crest of the Cascade mountains;
One small forest landowner; and
One representative from each of the following: (1) the federal government; (2) a tribal nation; (3) a statewide environmental organization; and (4) a state land trust beneficiary.

The local wildland fire liaison serves as the administrative chair for the Committee and the DNR is required to provide staff support for all committee meetings. Generally, the Committee meets at the call of the chair and each member serves without compensation. Members are generally immune from civil liability for official actions.

Entering Public or Private Land to Suppress or Control a Wildland Fire.

Person accessing land. A person is authorized, although not required, to enter public or private land in order to extinguish or control a wildland fire when fighting the wildland fire in that particular time and location can be reasonably considered a public necessity due to an imminent danger. No civil or criminal liability may be imposed by any court for any direct or proximate adverse impacts resulting from a person's access to land for the purposes of attempting to extinguish or control a wildland fire in that circumstance, except upon proof of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct by the individual.

In order for a person to lawfully access public or private land to suppress a wildland fire, all of the following conditions must exist:

There is an active fire on or in near proximity to the land;
The person has a reasonable belief that the local fire conditions are creating an emergency situation and that there is an imminent danger of a fire growing or spreading to or from the parcel of the land being entered;
The person has a reasonable belief that preventive measures will extinguish or control the wildfire;
The person has a reasonable belief that he or she is capable of taking preventive measures;
The person only undertakes measures that are reasonable and necessary until professional wildfire suppression personnel arrives;
The person does not continue to take suppression actions after specific direction to cease from the landowner;
The person takes preventive measures only for the period of time until efforts to control the wildfire have been assumed by professional wildfire suppression personnel, unless explicitly authorized by professional wildfire suppression personnel to remain engaged in suppressing the fire;
The person follows the instructions of professional wildfire fighting personnel, including ceasing to engage in firefighting activities, when directed to do so by professional fire suppression personnel; and
The person promptly notifies emergency personnel and the landowner, lessee, or occupant prior to entering the land or within a reasonable time after the individual attempts to extinguish or control the wildland fire.

Additionally, a person may not materially benefit or retain any valuable materials from access to the public or private land. Further, any authority to enter public or private land is limited to the minimum necessary activities reasonably required to extinguish or control the wildland fire. Examples of activities that may be reasonable are using hand tools to clear the ground of debris, operating readily available water hoses, clearing flammable materials from the vicinity of structures, unlocking or opening gates to assist firefighter access, and safely scouting and reporting fire behavior. Activities that that are prohibited include lighting a fire in an attempt to stop the spread of another fire, using explosives or falling timber as a firefighting technique, cutting fire lines with heavy earthmoving equipment, using aircraft for fire suppression, and directing other people to engage in firefighting.

Landowner. No civil or criminal liability may be imposed on the owner, lessee, or occupant of any land accessed for purposes of fire suppression activities as described above for any direct or proximate adverse impacts resulting from the access to privately owned or publicly owned land, except upon proof of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct by the owner, lessee, or occupant. The barrier to liability includes, but is not limited to, impacts on the person accessing the privately owned or publicly owned land and the person's personal property, including loss of life, any structures or land alterations constructed by individuals entering the privately owned or publicly owned land, other landholdings, and overall environmental resources. However, the barrier to liability does not include an action against an owner, lessee, or occupant for negligently permitting fire to spread.

DNR's Master Contractor List.

In order to maximize the effective utilization of local fire suppression assets, the DNR is required to: (1) compile and update, annually, a master list of qualified fire suppression contractors and make the list available to county legislative authorities, emergency management departments, and local fire districts; (2) cooperate with federal wildland firefighting agencies to maximize the efficient use of local resources in close proximity to wildland fire incidents; (3) enter into preemptive agreements with landowners in possession of firefighting capability that may be used in wildland fire suppression efforts, including bulldozers, fallers, fuel tenders, potable water tenders, water sprayers, wash trailers, refrigeration units, and buses; and (4) reach out to provide basic incident command system and wildland fire safety training to landowners in possession of firefighting capability to help ensure that any wildland fire suppression actions private landowners take on their own land are accomplished safely and in coordination with any related incident command structure.

When entering into those types of preemptive agreements with landowners, the DNR is required to ensure that all equipment and personnel satisfy the DNR's standards and that all contractors are under the supervision of recognized wildland fire personnel while engaged in fire suppression activities. The DNR may not be held civilly liable for any adverse impacts resulting from training provided by the DNR or preemptive agreements entered into by the DNR except upon proof of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.