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- 4.14.1 Structural Fire Risk
- Table 69: Structural Fire Hazard Risk Assessment
- 4.14.2 Fire History in Valley County
- 4.14.3 Mitigation Actions in the Past Five Years
- 4.14.4Vulnerability in Valley County
- 4.14.5 Structural Fire and Climate Change
- 4.14.6 Relationship to other Hazards
4.14 Structural FiresStructural fire was not identified in the 2008 Valley County Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan, but the decision was made to include it in this update.In-depth look at what structural fires are, the history of structural fires within Valley County, and the potential they have to impact residents. Structures fires are uncontrolled fires occurring on any building or structure. This includes residential, business, or industrial type fires. Valley County annually encounters numerous structure fires reports and risks which require the fire departments to respond. Valley County residents remain at risk of having their residence, place of business, or critical community buildings and facilities damaged or destroyed by structure fires. 4.14.1 Structural Fire RiskWhile the probability of structural fires in Valley County is highly likely, its relative impact is moderate, and thus the overall risk for fires in Valley County is moderate. The risk for fires for each of the cities is the same because data was not available for individual cities/towns. The overall risk was determined based upon the specific data collected and outlined in the history section of this hazard profile. In assessing structural fires for the 2015 update, data from 2009 to 2015 was used to determine the risk for Valley County, including each of the cities and the county as a whole. The table below provides the name of each of the cities in the county, the probability that fire will have an impact on that jurisdiction, the impact potential, as well as the overall risk calculated by the determine probability and impact ratings. Table 69: Structural Fire Hazard Risk Assessment
4.14.2 Fire History in Valley CountyThe table below outlines the structural fires runs the fire department has responded to in Valley County since 2009. Table 70: Structural Fire History for Valley County
Source: Data provided by Valley County 4.14.3 Mitigation Actions in the Past Five YearsThe 2008 Valley County Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan indicated the following mitigation projects related to structural fires. The first project was building codes for Valley County and the towns of Fort Peck, Nashua, and Opheim. This mitigation project was listed as near term, which means the timeframe was within the next 0-3 years. Another mitigation project related to structural fires was abandoned building removal in the towns of Fort Peck, Nashua, and Opheim. The timeframe for this project was listed as mid-term (within the next 3-6 years) and on-going. The final mitigation project from the previous plan related to structural fires was Fort Peck theater sprinkler system. This was also listed as a mid-term project with the timeframe being the next 3-6 years. In this planning iteration, fire mitigation is still a primary focus with many projects being carried over and or continued from the previous plan. 4.14.4Vulnerability in Valley CountyStructural failures, such as inadequate design, older homes, poor maintenance, natural gas explosion or human factors (neglect or human error), can lead to increased vulnerability to fires. Most structural failures occur within residential homes and low-occupancy buildings where there are fewer people around to notice serious issues that could lead to a collapse or fire. There have been some structural collapses involved in commercial and industrial facilities that have caused numerous fatalities and injuries, but such incidents are rare and are usually due to overloading or design flaws. The majority of fatalities due to structure collapse involve residential structures. 4.14.5 Structural Fire and Climate ChangeStructures located in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) are at increased risk of structure fire during a wildfire event. Climate change is likely to increase the possibility and impact of wildfires resulting in additional structure fires as a result. 4.14.6 Relationship to other HazardsStructural fires are associated with other hazards such as summer storms, drought, flood, and winter storms. Summer storms are related because lighting strikes may ignite a structural fire. Windstorms that result in structural damage to structures increases the fuel load, which may escalate the risk of a structural fire. Flood, tornado, and high winds may also cause structural fires in their aftermath. Downed power lines, natural gas leaks or other sources of ignition initiated by natural hazards may spark afire in structures. Routes to structures may be restricted due to flooding or debris from storms. Winter storms, such as blizzards or ice storms, may impair the movement of response vehicles and decrease response time to structural fires. The reduced response time could potentially increase the amount of damage. Download 4.32 Mb. Share with your friends:
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