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SUBSTITUTE
HOUSE BILL 1483
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Passed
Legislature - 1995 Regular Session
State of Washington 54th
Legislature 1995 Regular Session
By
Read first time 02/27/95.
Revising provisions
on the prevention and suppression of forest wild fires.
AN ACT
Relating to the prevention and suppression of forest wild fires; amending RCW
76.04.165; and adding a new section to chapter 76.04 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. A new
section is added to chapter 76.04 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
The legislature hereby finds and declares that forest wild fires are a threat
to public health and safety and can cause catastrophic damage to public and
private resources, including clean air, clean water, fish and wildlife habitat,
timber resources, forest soils, scenic beauty, recreational opportunities,
structures, and other improvements; and that it is in the public interest to
protect forests and forest resources by preventing and suppressing forest wild
fires.
(2)
The legislature hereby finds and declares that it is in the public interest to
establish and maintain a complete, cooperative, and coordinated forest fire
protection and suppression program for the state; that, second only to saving
lives, the primary mission of the department is protecting forest resources and
suppressing forest wild fires; that a primary mission of rural fire districts
and municipal fire departments is protecting improved property and suppressing
structural fires; and that the most effective way to protect structures is for
the department to focus its efforts and resources on aggressively suppressing
forest wild fires.
(3)
The legislature also acknowledges the natural role of fire in forest
ecosystems, and finds and declares it in the public interest to use fire under controlled
conditions to prevent wild fires by maintaining healthy forests and eliminating
sources of fuel.
Sec.
2. RCW
76.04.165 and 1988 c 273 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
The legislature finds and declares that forest lands within the state are
increasingly being used for residential purposes; that the risk to life and
property is increasing from forest fires which may destroy developed property;
((that the department's primary mission is to protect forest land and
suppress forest fires; that a primary mission of the rural fire districts and
municipal fire departments is to protect improved property and suppress
structural fires;)) that, based on the primary missions for the
respective fire control agencies established in this chapter, adjustment of
the geographic areas of responsibility ((for the respective fire control
agencies)) has not kept pace with the increasing use of forest lands for
residential purposes; and that the department should work with the state's
other fire control agencies to define geographic areas of responsibility that
are more consistent with their respective primary missions.
(2) To
accomplish the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, the department shall
establish a procedure to clarify its geographic areas of responsibility. The
areas of department protection shall be called forest protection zones. The
forest protection zones shall include all forest land which the department is
obligated to protect but shall not include forest land within rural fire
districts or municipal fire districts which affected local fire control
agencies agree, by mutual consent with the department, is not appropriate for
department protection. Forest land not included within a forest protection zone
established by mutual agreement of the department and a rural fire district or
a municipal fire district shall not be assessed under RCW 76.04.610 or
76.04.630.
(3)
After the department and any affected local fire protection agencies have
agreed on the boundary of a forest protection zone, the department shall
establish the boundary by rule under chapter 34.05 RCW.
(4)
Except by agreement of the affected parties, the establishment of forest
protection zones shall not alter any mutual aid agreement.
