13 - RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE 2017 LAMAR COUNTY MITIGATION PLAN

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Lamar County Multi- jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Chapter Three destroyed and an additional 2,700 other structures. Governor Rick Perry declared the state a disaster area and after several attempts President Barack Obama declared 252 of 254 Texas Counties as disaster areas due to wild fires and wild fire danger. According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), no significant wildfires have been recorded in Lamar County. This does not mean that there were no wildfires. Wildfires that do not encounter a human population are difficult to calculate damages and often go unreported. Wilfire events documented by the NCDC are large fires involving several counties and burning thousands of acres. 5. Probability of Future Events Although the number of incidences indicate that wildfires are likely to occur, most wildfires are small in size and contained by local resources. Education about the Wildland Urban Interface and the dangers of building within seem to be helping. The probability of future major wildfire events like the 2005 -2006 and 2010 -2011 one; is in direct relationship to future drought events. Major wildfires are usually secondary hazards of extreme heat and drought periods, but do often occur do to human error and irresponsibility. 6. Vulnerability Periods of drought, dry conditions, high temperatures, and low humidity set the stage for wildfires. Areas along railroads and people whose homes are in woodland settings in rural areas have an increased risk of wildfire. The sparsely populated tall grassed rangelands, are capable of experiencing large sweeping fires. Ironically, fire suppression is capable of creating larger fire hazards, because live and dead vegetation is allowed to accumulate in areas where fire has been excluded. In the incorporated areas the greatest vulnerability is unoccupied buildings and empty lots that have not been maintained. Fire vulnerability can be determined using the many methods including the Keetch -Byram Drought Index (KBDI). This is a drought index designed for fire potential assessment. The index is a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil and duff layers. The index increases for each day without rain ( the amount of increase depends on the daily high temperature) and decreases when it rains. The scale ranges from 0 (no moisture deficit) to 800. The range of the index is determined by assuming that there is 8 inches of moisture in a saturated soil that is readily available to the vegetation. For different soil types, the depth of soil required to hold 8 inches of moisture varies (loam =30 ", clay =25" and sand =80 "). A prolonged drought (high KBDI) influences fire intensity largely because more fuel is available for combustion (i.e. fuels have a lower moisture content). In addition, the drying of organic material in the soil can lead to increased difficulty in fire 121